Food & Daily-Life Chemistry

36 questions · Answers revealed below each question · Print this set

1.Which chemical makes hard water leave scale in kettles?
- A. Iron oxide
- B. Calcium carbonate
- C. Sodium chloride
- D. Silica
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Calcium carbonate
Did you know? Heated hard water drops calcium carbonate as white scale.
2.Which acid does vinegar carry in pickling?
- A. Citric acid
- B. Acetic acid
- C. Lactic acid
- D. Oxalic acid
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Acetic acid
Did you know? Pickling vinegar's acetic acid bars spoilage microbes.
3.Which sugar family does honey mostly contain?
- A. Maltose
- B. Sucrose only
- C. Lactose
- D. Fructose and glucose
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Fructose and glucose
Did you know? Honey is mostly fructose plus glucose, hence its sweetness.
4.Why does adding lemon keep cut apples from browning?
- A. Acid melts the fruit
- B. Vitamin C blocks oxidation
- C. Sugar seals the surface
- D. Salt draws out water
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Vitamin C blocks oxidation
Did you know? Ascorbic acid interrupts the enzymatic browning chain.
5.Which substance neutralizes acid soil in gardens?
- A. Sulfur
- B. Agricultural lime
- C. Ammonium sulfate
- D. Vinegar
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Agricultural lime
Did you know? Garden lime raises soil pH toward neutral.
6.Why does bread dough rise with yeast?
- A. Yeast adds air pockets directly
- B. Yeast ferments sugar into CO2
- C. Yeast melts the flour
- D. Yeast heats the dough
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Yeast ferments sugar into CO2
Did you know? Yeast's CO2 bubbles lift the crumb.
7.Why is mixing bleach and ammonia dangerous?
- A. They freeze together
- B. They cancel each other out
- C. They turn into harmless salt
- D. They react into toxic chloramine gases
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They react into toxic chloramine gases
Did you know? Bleach plus ammonia makes chloramines, gases that poison lungs.
8.Which acid does soda water carry for fizz and tang?
- A. Malic acid
- B. Carbonic acid
- C. Phosphoric acid
- D. Citric acid
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Carbonic acid
Did you know? Dissolved CO2 turns into carbonic acid in the bottle.
9.Why should cleaning products stay locked away from children?
- A. They are expensive
- B. They stain clothes
- C. They evaporate fast
- D. Many are corrosive or toxic if swallowed
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Many are corrosive or toxic if swallowed
Did you know? Swallowed cleaners can burn the throat and poison.
10.What browning reaction toasts bread crust and steak sear?
- A. Fermentation
- B. Oxidation
- C. The Maillard reaction
- D. Caramelization
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The Maillard reaction
Did you know? The Maillard reaction bonds sugars to amino acids in the heat.
11.Which gas makes the smell of rotten eggs?
- A. Chlorine
- B. Methane
- C. Ammonia
- D. Hydrogen sulfide
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Hydrogen sulfide
Did you know? Hydrogen sulfide is the rotten-egg smell itself.
12.Which food additive family carries E-numbers in Europe?
- A. All approved additives
- B. Only colorings
- C. Only preservatives
- D. Only sweeteners
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All approved additives
Did you know? E-numbers code every approved additive, colors included.
13.Why does a pressure cooker cook faster?
- A. It cooks by radiation only
- B. It removes oxygen
- C. Higher pressure raises water's boiling point
- D. Higher pressure lowers boiling
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Higher pressure raises water's boiling point
Did you know? Under pressure, water boils above 100 C, speeding chemistry.
14.Which chemical leavener makes cakes rise?
- A. Baking powder
- B. Cream only
- C. Yeast
- D. Baking soda alone
Show answer
Baking powder
Did you know? Baking powder releases CO2 on moisture and heat.
15.Why is mixing bleach with acids like vinegar dangerous?
- A. It releases toxic chlorine gas
- B. It neutralizes safely
- C. It makes soap
- D. It turns to water
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It releases toxic chlorine gas
Did you know? Acidified bleach releases chlorine gas, harmful to breathe.
16.Which preservative's salt form keeps cured ham pink and safe?
- A. Baking soda
- B. Sodium nitrite
- C. Sodium benzoate
- D. Table salt
Show answer
Sodium nitrite
Did you know? Nitrite salts cure meats against botulism.
17.Which substance lowers alkaline soil for acid-loving plants?
- A. Wood ash
- B. Elemental sulfur
- C. Lime
- D. Baking soda
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Elemental sulfur
Did you know? Soil sulfur slowly acidifies as microbes oxidize it.
18.Which 1859 instrument did Bunsen and Kirchhoff invent together?
- A. The barometer
- B. The spectroscope
- C. The centrifuge
- D. The calorimeter
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The spectroscope
Did you know? Their spectroscope read elements in flame colors.
19.What did Stanley Miller's 1953 flask produce from early-Earth gases?
- A. Full DNA
- B. Amino acids
- C. Living cells
- D. Proteins
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Amino acids
Did you know? Miller's spark over methane-ammonia water made amino acids.
20.Which acid gives dark colas their bite?
- A. Acetic acid
- B. Phosphoric acid
- C. Tartaric acid
- D. Lactic acid
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Phosphoric acid
Did you know? Cola's sharpness comes from phosphoric acid.
21.What makes mothballs smell of camphor?
- A. Evaporating water
- B. Melting wax
- C. Burning sulfur
- D. Sublimating naphthalene or camphor
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Sublimating naphthalene or camphor
Did you know? Mothball solids sublime straight into fragrant vapor.
22.Who invented the Bunsen burner's fame, with Peter Desaga building it?
- A. Robert Bunsen
- B. Humphry Davy
- C. Lord Kelvin
- D. Michael Faraday
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Robert Bunsen
Did you know? Bunsen's clean blue flame lit spectroscopy.
23.What acid gives rancid butter its smell?
- A. Lactic acid
- B. Formic acid
- C. Butyric acid
- D. Acetic acid
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Butyric acid
Did you know? Butyric acid means "butter acid" in Latin roots.
24.Which preservative keeps dried fruit bright orange?
- A. Sodium chloride
- B. Vitamin C
- C. Sulfur dioxide
- D. Citric acid
Show answer
Sulfur dioxide
Did you know? Sulfur dioxide preserves color and fights microbes in dried fruit.
25.Which warning label signal means a product is corrosive?
- A. The skull
- B. The corrosion pictogram
- C. The exclamation mark
- D. The flame
Show answer
The corrosion pictogram
Did you know? The corrosion pictogram marks skin-burning products.
26.Which 1828 synthesis is considered biochemistry's founding blow to vitalism?
- A. Aspirin synthesis
- B. Indigo dye synthesis
- C. Glucose synthesis
- D. Urea from ammonium cyanate
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Urea from ammonium cyanate
Did you know? Wöhler's urea synthesis made an "animal" product in a flask.
27.Which single sugar's melting-browning is caramelization?
- A. Lactose
- B. Starch
- C. Sucrose
- D. Glucose
Show answer
Sucrose
Did you know? Heated sucrose alone browns into caramel.
28.Which ion causes the "hard" feel in hard water?
- A. Calcium
- B. Potassium
- C. Chlorine
- D. Sodium
Show answer
Calcium
Did you know? Dissolved calcium and magnesium make water "hard".
29.Which natural preservative does honey owe its shelf life to?
- A. Vitamin C
- B. Alcohol content
- C. High fat content
- D. Low water activity
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Low water activity
Did you know? Honey's low water and peroxide traces starve microbes.
30.What is the purpose of a water softener's salt?
- A. It bleaches the pipes
- B. It sweetens the water
- C. It swaps calcium for sodium on resin
- D. It heats the tank
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It swaps calcium for sodium on resin
Did you know? Softener salt recharges the resin that traps calcium.
31.Which ingredient family gives cheese its stretch when melted?
- A. Casein proteins
- B. Oils only
- C. Sugars
- D. Starch granules
Show answer
Casein proteins
Did you know? Casein's calcium network melts and stretches into strings.
32.Why do silver spoons tarnish in egg dishes?
- A. Acid dissolves the spoon
- B. Salt rusts the silver
- C. The yolk melts the silver
- D. Sulfur in eggs forms black sulfide
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Sulfur in eggs forms black sulfide
Did you know? Egg sulfur blackens silver into silver sulfide film.
33.Which acidulant does baking soda meet in the batter for bubbles?
- A. Gelatin
- B. Cornstarch
- C. Cream of tartar
- D. Table salt
Show answer
Cream of tartar
Did you know? Cream of tartar's acid releases the soda's CO2.
34.Which chemical class do artificial sweeteners like aspartame belong to?
- A. Amino-acid derivatives
- B. Heavy metals
- C. Alcohols
- D. Starches
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Amino-acid derivatives
Did you know? Aspartame joins two amino acids with a methyl tag.
35.Which German chemist discovered cesium's light line, with Bunsen?
- A. Robert Koch
- B. Otto Hahn
- C. Walther Nernst
- D. Gustav Kirchhoff
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Gustav Kirchhoff
Did you know? Kirchhoff's spectral laws plus Bunsen's flame found cesium.
36.Who built the first modern calorimeter, measuring animal heat in ice?
- A. Wilbur Olin Atwater
- B. Lord Kelvin
- C. James Joule
- D. Antoine Lavoisier
Show answer
Antoine Lavoisier
Did you know? Lavoisier's ice calorimeter measured a guinea pig's breath.

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