Run this live with your team

Everyone answers on their phone, you control each question, live scores and a podium. £5 includes five rounds; add up to five more for £1 each.

Fact or Complete Nonsense?

Bizarre claims, convincing myths and one accurate verdict each time.

Free to use with your own team, courtesy of WorkplaceHero - workplacehero.co.uk

Question sheet

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
- D. Lead frames turn glass into liquid
2. Which claim about microwave cooking survives scrutiny?
- A. Radiation stays in food until it cools
- B. It does not make food radioactive
- C. Only the water becomes radioactive
- D. It always cooks the centre first
3. A lightning victim needs help. Which pair of claims is correct?
- A. They retain no charge; trees are unsafe shelter
- 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
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
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
- D. It cannot be photographed from orbit
6. Which verdict on coral bleaching is accurate?
- A. Corals are plants; bleaching can be survived
- B. Corals are animals; bleaching can be survived
- C. Corals are plants; bleaching always means death
- D. Corals are animals; bleaching always means death
7. Which ocean garbage-patch claim is accurate?
- A. It is dispersed debris, with microplastics dominating the item count
- 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
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
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
- D. All water has identical conductivity
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
- C. Liquid water is densest at 0°C; ordinary ice is denser
- D. Water has the same density at every temperature
11. Water can be solid, liquid and gas at once. Which verdict is accurate?
- A. All three can coexist at the triple point
- B. At every temperature below freezing
- C. Only if they are different chemicals
- D. Impossible for a pure substance
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 sheet (for the quizmaster)

1. C - Uneven thickness is not evidence of centuries of flowing
Historical manufacturing produced uneven glass. Room-temperature flow is far too slow to explain the windows.
2. B - It does not make food radioactive
Microwaves transfer energy as heat. Their non-ionizing radiation does not make food radioactive.
3. A - They retain no charge; trees are unsafe shelter
Touching a lightning victim does not electrocute a rescuer. Sheltering under a tree is unsafe.
4. D - It rotates; its far side receives sunlight
Synchronous rotation keeps roughly the same face towards Earth. The far side still has day and night.
5. C - It is not visible unaided from the Moon, but can be photographed from orbit
NASA photographs show sections from orbit using lenses. The unaided-view-from-the-Moon claim is a myth.
6. B - Corals are animals; bleaching can be survived
Bleached corals have lost symbiotic algae. They are stressed, but not necessarily dead.
7. A - It is dispersed debris, with microplastics dominating the item count
Garbage patches contain scattered debris across large areas and depths, not walkable islands.
8. D - An underwater landslide can generate one without an earthquake
A sudden displacement of water can generate a tsunami. Landslides and volcanic activity are possible causes.
9. C - It conducts poorly; dissolved ions increase conductivity
Dissolved ions carry electrical current. Everyday water should still be treated as an electrical hazard.
10. B - Liquid water is densest near 4°C; ordinary ice is less dense
Fresh water reaches maximum density near 4°C. Its ordinary solid form floats.
11. A - All three can coexist at the triple point
Ice, liquid water and water vapour can coexist in equilibrium under specific triple-point conditions.
12. D - It travels faster in seawater than air, with speed affected by temperature and pressure
Ocean temperature and pressure change sound speed and can create channels that carry sound great distances.