Fact or Complete Nonsense?

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1. 1. Which claim about old cathedral windows is accurate?
   • A. Uneven thickness proves centuries of flowing
   • B. Glass flows noticeably in sunlight
   • C. Uneven thickness is not evidence of centuries of flowing (answer)
   • D. Lead frames turn glass into liquid
   Historical manufacturing produced uneven glass. Room-temperature flow is far too slow to explain the windows.
2. 2. Which claim about microwave cooking survives scrutiny?
   • A. Radiation stays in food until it cools
   • B. It does not make food radioactive (answer)
   • C. Only the water becomes radioactive
   • D. It always cooks the centre first
   Microwaves transfer energy as heat. Their non-ionizing radiation does not make food radioactive.
3. 3. A lightning victim needs help. Which pair of claims is correct?
   • A. They retain no charge; trees are unsafe shelter (answer)
   • B. They retain charge; trees are safe shelter
   • C. They retain charge; trees are unsafe shelter
   • D. They retain no charge; trees are safe shelter
   Touching a lightning victim does not electrocute a rescuer. Sheltering under a tree is unsafe.
4. 4. Which description of the Moon is accurate?
   • A. It rotates; its far side never sees sunlight
   • B. It never rotates; both sides see sunlight
   • C. It never rotates; its far side stays dark
   • D. It rotates; its far side receives sunlight (answer)
   Synchronous rotation keeps roughly the same face towards Earth. The far side still has day and night.
5. 5. Which Great Wall claim is defensible?
   • A. It is easily visible unaided from the Moon
   • B. It is the only structure visible from orbit
   • C. It is not visible unaided from the Moon, but can be photographed from orbit (answer)
   • D. It cannot be photographed from orbit
   NASA photographs show sections from orbit using lenses. The unaided-view-from-the-Moon claim is a myth.
6. 6. Which verdict on coral bleaching is accurate?
   • A. Corals are plants; bleaching can be survived
   • B. Corals are animals; bleaching can be survived (answer)
   • C. Corals are plants; bleaching always means death
   • D. Corals are animals; bleaching always means death
   Bleached corals have lost symbiotic algae. They are stressed, but not necessarily dead.
7. 7. Which ocean garbage-patch claim is accurate?
   • A. It is dispersed debris, with microplastics dominating the item count (answer)
   • B. It is entirely intact plastic bottles
   • C. Its boundary stays fixed like an island
   • D. It is a solid island you can stand on
   Garbage patches contain scattered debris across large areas and depths, not walkable islands.
8. 8. Which tsunami claim is accurate?
   • A. Only lunar tides can generate one
   • B. It is always a single breaking wave
   • C. The earthquake must be beneath its eventual landfall
   • D. An underwater landslide can generate one without an earthquake (answer)
   A sudden displacement of water can generate a tsunami. Landslides and volcanic activity are possible causes.
9. 9. Which claim about pure water is accurate?
   • A. It conducts better than seawater
   • B. Dissolved salts reduce conductivity
   • C. It conducts poorly; dissolved ions increase conductivity (answer)
   • D. All water has identical conductivity
   Dissolved ions carry electrical current. Everyday water should still be treated as an electrical hazard.
10. 10. At ordinary atmospheric pressure, which water claim is correct?
    • A. Liquid water is densest at boiling point
    • B. Liquid water is densest near 4°C; ordinary ice is less dense (answer)
    • C. Liquid water is densest at 0°C; ordinary ice is denser
    • D. Water has the same density at every temperature
    Fresh water reaches maximum density near 4°C. Its ordinary solid form floats.
11. 11. Water can be solid, liquid and gas at once. Which verdict is accurate?
    • A. All three can coexist at the triple point (answer)
    • B. At every temperature below freezing
    • C. Only if they are different chemicals
    • D. Impossible for a pure substance
    Ice, liquid water and water vapour can coexist in equilibrium under specific triple-point conditions.
12. 12. Which underwater-sound claim is accurate?
    • A. It travels slower because water is denser
    • B. Its speed never changes with depth
    • C. It cannot travel below the sunlit zone
    • D. It travels faster in seawater than air, with speed affected by temperature and pressure (answer)
    Ocean temperature and pressure change sound speed and can create channels that carry sound great distances.