Cube-shaped poo, three-hearted octopuses and lightning hotter than the surface of the Sun: science is weirder than fiction, and these 40 questions prove it. They're free and printable, and every answer has been checked, so they're ready for the classroom, the kitchen table or your next quiz night.
40 Fun Science Trivia Questions and Answers
- How many hearts does an octopus have?ThreeTwo pump blood to the gills and one pumps it around the body, and the blood is blue thanks to copper-based haemocyanin.
- What colour is a polar bear's skin?BlackIts dense coat looks white, but the skin underneath is black.
- On which planet is a single day (one full spin) longer than its year?VenusVenus takes about 243 Earth days to spin once but only about 225 to orbit the Sun.
- What shape are wombat droppings?Cube-shapedUneven stretchiness in the final part of the wombat's intestine moulds the poo into cubes.
- Which tiny animals survived 10 days exposed to open space on a 2007 European Space Agency mission?Tardigrades (water bears)
- Which Australian animal has fingerprints almost identical to a human's?The koalaKoala fingerprints evolved separately from ours, probably to help them grip branches and leaves.
- The Portuguese man o' war is not a true jellyfish. What kind of colonial creature is it?A siphonophore
- Roughly how many times hotter than the surface of the Sun can the air around a lightning bolt get?About five timesLightning can heat the air it passes through to around 50,000°F (about 28,000°C).
- What is the chemical symbol for gold?AuAu comes from 'aurum', the Latin word for gold.
- Which gas do plants take in from the air to carry out photosynthesis?Carbon dioxide
- What is the longest bone in the human body?The femur (thigh bone)
- What is the hardest naturally occurring substance?Diamond
- Which element has the chemical symbol Fe?Iron
- What is the nearest star to Earth?The Sun
- How many bones are in the typical adult human body?206
- Which part of a cell is often called its 'powerhouse'?The mitochondrion (mitochondria)
- Which metal is liquid at room temperature?MercuryThe symbol Hg comes from "hydrargyrum", the Latinised form of a Greek word meaning "water-silver".
- Which blood type is known as the universal donor for red blood cells?O negative
- Which force keeps the planets in orbit around the Sun?Gravity
- What does DNA stand for?Deoxyribonucleic acid
- Titan is the largest moon of which planet?Saturn
- To the nearest hundred thousand, how many kilometres does light travel in one second?About 300,000 kmThe exact figure is 299,792.458 km per second.
- Which gas makes up most of Earth's atmosphere?Nitrogen
- Which scientist set out the three laws of motion?Isaac Newton
- What is the largest organ of the human body?The skin
- What type of animal is a Komodo dragon?A lizard
- How many legs does a spider have?Eight
- What do honeybees collect from flowers to make honey?Nectar
- At sea level, what is the boiling point of water in degrees Celsius?100°C
- Which is the only mammal capable of true powered flight?The bat
- What is the scientific study of fungi called?Mycology
- Which element has the atomic number 1?Hydrogen
- What do we call animals that eat both plants and meat?Omnivores
- Which planet is closest to the Sun?MercuryEven so, Venus is the hottest planet, because its thick carbon dioxide atmosphere traps heat.
- In what unit is electrical resistance measured?The ohm
- What was the name of the supercontinent that existed around 250 million years ago?Pangaea
- Which coloured part of the eye controls how much light gets in?The iris
- What is the chemical symbol for sodium?NaIt comes from 'natrium', the element's Latin name.
- Who developed the first vaccine, against smallpox, in 1796?Edward Jenner
- In which layer of Earth's atmosphere is the ozone layer found?The stratosphere
Sources
- Why does an octopus have more than one heart? (BBC Science Focus)
- Debunking a myth about polar bear hair (Alaska Science Forum)
- All About Venus (NASA Space Place)
- Why wombats make cube-shaped poos (Smithsonian)
- Tiny animals survive exposure to space (ESA)
- Koalas have human-like fingerprints (Live Science)
- Portuguese man-of-war (National Geographic)
- Lightning temperature (US National Weather Service)
Fact-checked 31 Oct 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we'll fix it in public.
