General Knowledge Quiz — 50 Questions with Answers

What is the capital city of Australia?

Answer Canberra

The mistake most people make here is naming Sydney, which is the largest city but has never been the capital. Canberra exists precisely because Sydney and Melbourne could not agree, so a new city was built between them.

Which is the largest ocean on Earth?

Answer Pacific

The Pacific is wider than the Moon's diameter — a straight line across it at the equator is longer than the trip from one side of the Moon to the other, several times over. It also holds the deepest point on the planet.

Which country has the largest population in the world?

Answer India

India passed China around 2023, and the two are close enough that the answer depends on which agency's estimate you read. Together they account for roughly a third of everyone alive.

The Sahara Desert is located mainly on which continent?

Answer Africa

The Sahara covers most of northern Africa and is close in area to the United States. It has not always been sand — rock paintings across it show cattle, swimmers and rivers from a time when it was green.

The Galapagos Islands belong to which country?

Answer Ecuador

The Galapagos lie about a thousand kilometers off the Ecuadorian coast. Their isolation is exactly what made them useful to Darwin: the same kind of bird had ended up different on each island.

Mount Everest sits on the border between Nepal and which other country?

Answer China

The summit sits on the border itself, so Everest belongs to both. Nepal and China even measured it separately for years before announcing a joint figure in 2020.

What is the smallest country in the world by area?

Answer Vatican City

Vatican City is smaller than many city parks — under half a square kilometer, with a population in the hundreds. It became a country only in 1929, by treaty with Italy.

Which city is divided by the Bosphorus strait?

Answer Istanbul

Istanbul is the only major city standing on two continents. Ferries cross between Europe and Asia as ordinary commuter transport, which no other city can say.

What is the currency of Japan?

Answer Yen

The yen is one of the most traded currencies in the world, behind only the dollar and the euro. Unlike most currencies it has no widely used subunit in practice — prices are simply whole yen.

Which US state is the largest by area?

Answer Alaska

Alaska is larger than the next three states combined, and bigger than all but a handful of countries. It was bought from Russia in 1867 for about two cents per acre.

What is the chemical symbol for oxygen?

Answer O

Oxygen is O, and O2 is what we breathe — the element and the molecule are not the same thing. Ozone is a third form, three oxygen atoms bound together, and it behaves quite differently.

Which planet is known as the Red Planet?

Answer Mars

Mars looks red because its dust contains iron that has rusted. Its surface is also home to the tallest volcano in the solar system, roughly two and a half times the height of Everest.

Which gas do plants absorb from the air for photosynthesis?

Answer Carbon dioxide

Plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen, the reverse of what we do. That is why the amount of CO2 in the air dips slightly every northern summer, when the world's forests are in leaf.

Roughly how many bones are in the adult human body?

Answer 206

Adults have around 206, but babies are born with roughly 300. The count falls because separate bones fuse together as a child grows — the skull alone accounts for several of those mergers.

What is the fastest land animal?

Answer Cheetah

The cheetah is the fastest over short distances, reaching roughly 100 kilometers an hour but only for a few hundred meters. Over long distances the pronghorn beats it easily, and over any distance a diving falcon beats them both.

What is the chemical formula for water?

Answer H2O

Two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen. The bond is bent rather than straight, and that awkward angle is why water dissolves so much, why it climbs up plant stems and why ice floats.

Which blood cells fight infection?

Answer White blood cells

White blood cells are the immune system's workers, and they are vastly outnumbered — for every white cell there are hundreds of red ones. They also leave the bloodstream to reach tissue, which red cells never do.

What force keeps the planets in orbit around the Sun?

Answer Gravity

Gravity, but the planets are not being held still — they are falling toward the Sun and missing, over and over. An orbit is a fall that keeps going sideways fast enough to never land.

What is the largest organ of the human body?

Answer Skin

Skin is the largest, weighing several kilograms in an adult. It is also constantly replaced: most household dust is made largely of shed human skin.

Diamond is a form of which chemical element?

Answer Carbon

Diamond and graphite are both pure carbon; only the arrangement of atoms differs. That is why the hardest natural substance and the soft stuff in a pencil are chemically identical.

In which year did the Second World War end?

Answer 1945

1945 — May in Europe, August in Asia and the Pacific. Countries mark different dates because of that gap, which is worth remembering whenever a quiz asks for a single year.

Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?

Answer Neil Armstrong

Armstrong stepped out first, with Buzz Aldrin following about twenty minutes later. Michael Collins stayed in orbit and never landed, which is why his name is the one people forget.

Which ancient civilization built the pyramids of Giza?

Answer The Egyptians

The Egyptians, working around four and a half thousand years ago. The pyramids were already ancient ruins when Cleopatra was alive — she is closer to us in time than to their builders.

Who was the first President of the United States?

Answer George Washington

Washington was elected unanimously, the only president ever to be. He also chose to step down after two terms, setting a limit that stayed a custom for a century and a half before becoming law.

In which year did the Titanic sink?

Answer 1912

1912, on the ship's first voyage. She carried lifeboats for about half the people aboard, which was more than the regulations of the day required — the rules were written for much smaller ships.

Julius Caesar was a leader of which ancient state?

Answer Rome

Caesar led Rome, but never as emperor — he was assassinated before that title existed, and his adopted heir became the first to hold it. The word for emperor in several languages still comes from his name.

In which year did the Berlin Wall fall?

Answer 1989

1989. The crossings opened the same night a spokesman misspoke at a press conference, saying the new travel rules applied immediately when they were meant to start the next day.

Who discovered penicillin?

Answer Alexander Fleming

Fleming noticed in 1928 that mold had killed bacteria on a dish he had left out. Turning that observation into a usable drug took another decade and a different team, which is why the Nobel was shared three ways.

Which country gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States?

Answer France

France gave the statue for the American centennial. It arrived in 350 pieces and was assembled on site, and its copper skin was originally the color of a new penny.

The Hundred Years' War was fought mainly between England and which country?

Answer France

England and France, and the name undersells it — the fighting ran on and off for well over a hundred years. It ended with England holding almost nothing on the continent.

Who painted the Mona Lisa?

Answer Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo carried the painting with him for years and never seems to have delivered it. It is small, about 77 by 53 centimeters, and most visitors are surprised by how modest it looks in person.

Who wrote the play "Romeo and Juliet"?

Answer William Shakespeare

Shakespeare did not invent the story — versions of it were circulating in Italian and English before him. What he added was the language, and a compression of the timeline into a few days.

How many strings does a standard violin have?

Answer Four

Four strings, tuned in fifths. A viola looks almost identical but is tuned a fifth lower, which is why the two are so often confused at a distance.

Which painter famously cut off part of his own ear?

Answer Vincent van Gogh

Van Gogh cut off part of his left ear in 1888. He sold very little in his lifetime, and the prices his work reaches now are among the largest gaps between an artist's living and posthumous fortunes.

Who wrote the novel "1984"?

Answer George Orwell

Orwell wrote it in 1948 and reversed the last two digits for the title. Several of its coinages — doublethink, thoughtcrime, Big Brother — have outgrown the book and entered ordinary speech.

Which composer continued to write great works after losing his hearing?

Answer Beethoven

Beethoven began losing his hearing in his late twenties and was profoundly deaf by the time of the Ninth Symphony. He had to be turned around at its premiere to see the audience applauding.

Who sculpted the statue of David in Florence?

Answer Michelangelo

Michelangelo carved David from a single block that two earlier sculptors had abandoned as flawed. He was twenty-six when he finished it.

Which instrument has 88 keys in its standard form?

Answer Piano

Eighty-eight keys, fifty-two white and thirty-six black. The range stops where it does because notes beyond it become hard for the ear to place as pitch at all.

Who wrote "Don Quixote"?

Answer Miguel de Cervantes

Cervantes published the first part in 1605 and a second a decade later. It is often called the first modern novel, and its second part is unusual for having characters who have read the first.

A traditional haiku has how many syllables in total?

Answer Seventeen

Seventeen, in a five-seven-five pattern. The count is of Japanese sound units rather than English syllables, which is why faithful translations often come out shorter than the original.

How many players from one football team are on the pitch during a match?

Answer Eleven

Eleven per side, including the goalkeeper. A team drops below seven and the match cannot continue — that is the point at which the referee abandons it.

How often are the Summer Olympic Games normally held?

Answer Every 4 years

Every four years, and the Winter Games now fall two years apart from the Summer ones. That stagger was introduced in the 1990s, which is why 1992 and 1994 both had Winter Games.

In tennis, what is the score called immediately after deuce?

Answer Advantage

Advantage — one point past deuce. If the player who has it loses the next point, the score returns to deuce, which is why a single game can run far longer than four points.

How many squares are there on a chessboard?

Answer 64

Sixty-four, in an eight-by-eight grid. The number of possible games, however, is larger than the number of atoms in the observable universe, which is why chess has never been solved.

Which country hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896?

Answer Greece

Greece, in Athens, in 1896. Fourteen countries took part and every competitor was male; the marathon was invented for those Games rather than inherited from antiquity.

In basketball, how many points is a shot from beyond the three-point line worth?

Answer Three

Three points. The line was only added to the professional game in the late 1970s, and it changed the sport's tactics more than any rule since.

In which sport can you score a "hole in one"?

Answer Golf

Golf — the ball goes in from the tee in a single stroke. It is far more common on short holes, and most golfers go a lifetime without one.

A marathon is approximately how many kilometers long?

Answer 42 km

About 42.195 kilometers. The odd extra was added at the 1908 London Games so the race could start at Windsor Castle and finish in front of the royal box.

In chess, which piece can only ever move diagonally?

Answer Bishop

The bishop, which is why each side has one that never leaves the light squares and one that never leaves the dark. Losing one leaves half the board permanently beyond that piece's reach.

How many rings are on the Olympic flag?

Answer Five

Five rings, for five inhabited continental groupings, interlocking to represent their meeting. The six colors of the flag, counting the white background, were chosen so that every national flag then in use contained at least one of them.