Let's Physics!

Question 1

In TV’s The Big Bang Theory, Leonard, Raj, Howard and Sheldon are researchers at which US institution?

Accepted Answer

Caltech

Question 2

Which two elementary particles are described as “massless”?

Accepted Answer

Photon and gluon

Question 3

If the largest known star, UY Scuti, were plopped where our Sun is, how much space would it take up?

Accepted Answer

Beyond the orbit of Jupiter, about half the size of our whole solar system

Question 4

On a cosmological scale, the concept of “distance” is actually pretty tricky to define. Why’s that?

Accepted Answer

The universe is expanding and the rate of expansion has changed over time

Question 5

The laws of physics tell us that energy is:

Accepted Answer

Conserved

Question 6

The universe is made up of 3 main ingredients: ordinary matter, dark matter, and dark energy. In what proportions?

Accepted Answer

C. A dark stew: 5% ordinary matter / 27% dark matter / 68% dark energy

Question 7

When Isaac Newton died, which of these was not in his possession?

Accepted Answer

Shower curtain

Question 8

According to special relativity, what does an observer at rest see when a spaceship is moving very quickly towards her?

Accepted Answer

The ship appears shorter and the ship’s clock is ticking more slowly

Question 9

What was Brian Cox’s role in the band D:REAM, which had a hit in the 1990s with Things Can Only Get Better?

Accepted Answer

Keyboard

Question 10

The exoplanet Draugr (a.k.a. PSR B1257+12 A) is the smallest legitimate exoplanet known so far. How puny is it?

Accepted Answer

Twice as massive as our moon

Question 11

Very simply, what’s the difference between weight and mass?

Accepted Answer

Mass (amount of matter), weight (gravitational force) in/on object

Question 12

What has animal-loving Queen guitarist and former astrophysicist Brian May got in his garden?

Accepted Answer

Telescope

Question 13

Which US institution once offered a professorship to the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei?

Accepted Answer

Harvard

Question 14

Physicists Sabine Hossenfelder and Tim Palmer recently recorded a spoof coronavirus version of which song?

Accepted Answer

It’s the End of the World as we Know It – REM

Question 15

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN uses 1.3 terawatt hours of electricity annually. That’s equivalent to:

Accepted Answer

All of these

Question 16

The universe is expanding, but the galaxy, solar system, Earth, humans, and the like are not. Why’s that?

Accepted Answer

Gravity and the strong nuclear force are stronger than the expansion

Question 17

Who has never appeared in the Physics World “Once a Physicist” column (which features people who once studied physics)?

Accepted Answer

Professional footballer

Question 18

Roughly how massive is the black hole at the middle of the Milky Way, called Sagittarius A, compared to our sun?

Accepted Answer

4,000,000 times the mass of our sun

Question 19

Which of the following is not a form of energy?

Accepted Answer

Friction

Question 20

Which activity did theoretical physicist Kaluza successfully do for the first time after only having studied it in books

Accepted Answer

Swimming

Question 21

What pet belonging to top Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell appears on his statue in Edinburgh?

Accepted Answer

Dog

Question 22

Measuring the universe from smallest scale (Planck length) to largest (the observable universe), what's in the middle?

Accepted Answer

Life as we know it (cells, molecules, and the like)

Question 23

Where did pioneering physicist James Joule carry out his early experiments on thermodynamics?

Accepted Answer

On a farm

Question 24

If energy cannot be created or destroyed, why do stars shine?

Accepted Answer

Nuclear fusion transforms mass into energy (E=mc^2)

Question 25

Which of these phenomena inspired Albert Einstein in his development of general relativity?

Accepted Answer

Seeing a man fall off a roof

Let's Physics!

Questions 25

Let's Physics!

Questions 25