Hard General Knowledge Trivia Questions

33 hard general knowledge trivia questions with answers

1. What is the only letter that does not appear in any US state name?

   Answer: Q New Jersey and Texas cover J and X; Arizona covers Z.Why?

2. How many keys does a standard full-size piano have?

   Answer: 88 Fifty-two white keys and thirty-six black ones.Why?

3. Which element has the atomic number 1?

   Answer: Hydrogen It is by far the most abundant element in the universe.Why?

4. What is the collective noun for a group of crows?

   Answer: A murder Most of these poetic collective nouns come from medieval hunting lists.Why?

5. Which sea creature has three hearts?

   Answer: Octopus Two pump blood to the gills and one serves the rest of the body.Why?

6. What does the acronym LASER stand for at its first word?

   Answer: Light Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.Why?

7. How many time zones does China officially use?

   Answer: One Despite its width, the whole country runs on a single standard time.Why?

8. The Rosetta Stone was crucial to deciphering which writing system?

   Answer: Egyptian hieroglyphs It repeats the same decree in Greek, giving scholars a key.

9. A group of lions is properly called what?

   Answer: A pride Troop belongs to monkeys, and colony to ants and penguins.

10. Which gas gives fizzy drinks their bubbles?

    Answer: Carbon dioxide It is dissolved under pressure and escapes when the bottle is opened.Why?

11. The abbreviation e.g. stands for a Latin phrase meaning what?

    Answer: For example The phrase i.e. means 'that is', which is why the two get mixed up.

12. Which musical term instructs a player to perform very quietly?

    Answer: Pianissimo The piano was named for its ability to play both soft and loud.Why?

13. A nautical mile is based on what measurement of the Earth?

    Answer: One minute of latitude That is why it suits navigation charts better than a land mile.

14. The word 'alphabet' is formed from the first two letters of which alphabet?

    Answer: Greek Alpha and beta, which themselves came from Phoenician letter names.

15. Which is the largest internal organ in the human body?

    Answer: Liver The skin is the largest organ overall, which is why the word 'internal' matters.

16. In which year did the Berlin Wall fall?

    Answer: 1989 Border crossings opened on the night of 9 November after East Germany lifted travel restrictions.

17. Which painter cut off part of his own ear in 1888?

    Answer: Vincent van Gogh It happened in Arles in December after a quarrel with Gauguin, who was staying with him.

18. Which is the longest bone in the human body?

    Answer: Femur It runs from hip to knee and bears most of the body's weight when standing.

19. Magna Carta was sealed in which year?

    Answer: 1215 King John agreed to it at Runnymede under pressure from rebel barons.

20. A traditional haiku has how many syllables in total?

    Answer: Seventeen They fall in three lines of five, seven and five.

21. In which sport are 'birdie', 'eagle' and 'bogey' used?

    Answer: Golf All three describe a hole's score relative to par.

22. Which country has the only national flag that is not rectangular or square?

    Answer: Nepal Its two stacked pennants are said to represent the Himalayas and the country's two main religions.

23. How many feet are there in a mile?

    Answer: 5,280 The figure comes from eight furlongs of 660 feet each.

24. The Latin phrase 'carpe diem' means what?

    Answer: Seize the day It comes from an ode by the Roman poet Horace.

25. Genghis Khan founded which empire?

    Answer: Mongol Empire At his death in 1227 it already stretched from the Pacific coast to the Caspian Sea.

26. The Davis Cup is contested in which sport?

    Answer: Tennis It is the men's international team competition, first played between the USA and Britain in 1900.

27. Which Greek philosopher tutored the young Alexander the Great?

    Answer: Aristotle Philip II of Macedon hired him to teach the prince at Mieza.

28. The 'Hallelujah Chorus' comes from which oratorio by Handel?

    Answer: Messiah Handel composed the whole work in about three and a half weeks in 1741.

29. Lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world, lies in which country?

    Answer: Russia It holds roughly a fifth of the world's unfrozen fresh surface water.

30. How many pieces does each player start with in a game of chess?

    Answer: Sixteen Eight pawns plus the eight pieces on the back rank.

31. The word 'robot' was introduced to the world by a 1920 play from which country?

    Answer: Czechoslovakia Karel Čapek's play R.U.R. took it from the Czech word for forced labour.

32. Which element has the chemical symbol Fe?

    Answer: Iron The symbol comes from ferrum, the Latin name for the metal.

33. The Prime Meridian, longitude zero, passes through an observatory in which part of London?

    Answer: Greenwich It was adopted as the world's reference line at an international conference in 1884.