Element Families, Metals & Minerals

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

1.Which metal is the naturally heaviest atom that still occurs in significant ore?
- A. Thorium
- B. Bismuth
- C. Plutonium
- D. Uranium
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Uranium
Did you know? Uranium, element 92, is the heaviest natural element in real deposits.
2.Which two elements make up over 98% of the visible universe's ordinary matter?
- A. Carbon and oxygen
- B. Hydrogen and helium
- C. Hydrogen and oxygen
- D. Helium and carbon
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Hydrogen and helium
Did you know? Hydrogen and helium dominate the cosmos, forged first in the Big Bang.
3.Which light metal is won from bauxite ore by electrolysis?
- A. Sodium
- B. Titanium
- C. Aluminum
- D. Magnesium
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Aluminum
Did you know? Bauxite's alumina melts into aluminum in electrolytic pots.
4.Which aluminum oxide mineral makes ruby and sapphire?
- A. Beryl
- B. Spinel
- C. Topaz
- D. Corundum
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Corundum
Did you know? Ruby and sapphire are colored corundum.
5.Which glowing paint element "Radium Girls" painted watch dials with?
- A. Uranium
- B. Thorium
- C. Radium
- D. Polonium
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Radium
Did you know? Radium's glow made watch dials luminous, at a terrible cost to the painters.
6.Which element is the most abundant in Earth's crust?
- A. Oxygen
- B. Iron
- C. Aluminum
- D. Silicon
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Oxygen
Did you know? Oxygen is nearly half of Earth's crust by mass, locked into silicate rocks.
7.Which Bessemer invention of 1856 made cheap steel possible?
- A. The Bessemer converter
- B. The crucible pot
- C. The open hearth
- D. The rolling mill
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The Bessemer converter
Did you know? Bessemer's air blast burned out carbon in minutes.
8.Which silica mineral family holds amethyst and citrine?
- A. Feldspar
- B. Beryl
- C. Zircon
- D. Quartz
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Quartz
Did you know? Amethyst and citrine are colored quartz.
9.Which metal is the lightest metal of all, half the density of aluminum?
- A. Magnesium
- B. Sodium
- C. Beryllium
- D. Lithium
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Lithium
Did you know? Lithium is the least dense metal, light enough to float on oil.
10.Which member of group 1 is not a metal at all?
- A. Helium
- B. Potassium
- C. Hydrogen
- D. Lithium
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Hydrogen
Did you know? Hydrogen sits atop group 1 but is a nonmetal gas.
11.Which process removes iron from its ore in a blast furnace with coke?
- A. Roasting only
- B. Smelting
- C. Hydrometallurgy
- D. Electrolysis
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Smelting
Did you know? Blast furnaces reduce iron oxide with carbon monoxide.
12.Which mineral is pure quartz made of?
- A. Aluminum oxide
- B. Silicon dioxide
- C. Sodium chloride
- D. Calcium carbonate
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Silicon dioxide
Did you know? Quartz is crystallized silicon dioxide.
13.Which family does sodium belong to, as its lightest members react violently with water?
- A. Alkali metals
- B. Halogens
- C. Noble gases
- D. Alkaline-earth metals
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Alkali metals
Did you know? Sodium sits in group 1, the water-shy alkali metals.
14.Which copper-zinc alloy makes trumpets and door hardware?
- A. Pewter
- B. Solder
- C. Bronze
- D. Brass
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Brass
Did you know? Brass is copper plus zinc, bright and workable.
15.Which iron sulfide mineral is nicknamed "fool's gold"?
- A. Chalcopyrite
- B. Hematite
- C. Pyrite
- D. Magnetite
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Pyrite
Did you know? Pyrite's brass glitter tricked many prospectors.
16.Which elements alone occupy the first period of the periodic table?
- A. Helium and neon
- B. Hydrogen and lithium
- C. Hydrogen and helium
- D. Hydrogen and oxygen
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Hydrogen and helium
Did you know? Period 1 holds only hydrogen and helium.
17.Which ancient alloy of copper and tin named an age?
- A. Pewter
- B. Brass
- C. Steel
- D. Bronze
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Bronze
Did you know? Bronze's copper-tin mix armed the ancient world.
18.Which hardest-known mineral tops the Mohs scale at 10?
- A. Quartz
- B. Topaz
- C. Diamond
- D. Corundum
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Diamond
Did you know? Diamond's carbon lattice holds Mohs 10.
19.Which halogen is a pale yellow-green gas that keeps pools clean?
- A. Chlorine
- B. Astatine
- C. Bromine
- D. Iodine
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Chlorine
Did you know? Chlorine is the yellow-green gas behind the smell of bleached pools.
20.Which alloying element chiefly hardens steel into stainless?
- A. Nickel
- B. Vanadium
- C. Manganese
- D. Chromium
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Chromium
Did you know? Chromium over 10 percent keeps stainless steel rustless.
21.Which gem is pure crystallized carbon?
- A. Diamond
- B. Ruby
- C. Topaz
- D. Opal
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Diamond
Did you know? Diamond is carbon in its hardest form.
22.Which halogen is the most reactive element of all, attacking even glass?
- A. Bromine
- B. Chlorine
- C. Iodine
- D. Fluorine
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Fluorine
Did you know? Fluorine tops the reactivity chart as the most electronegative element.
23.Which organic gem comes from fossilized tree resin?
- A. Pearl
- B. Jet
- C. Amber
- D. Coral
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Amber
Did you know? Amber is ancient resin, warm to the touch.
24.Which element is the most abundant by mass in the human body?
- A. Calcium
- B. Oxygen
- C. Carbon
- D. Hydrogen
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Oxygen
Did you know? Oxygen leads body mass, most of it bound into water.
25.How many periods does the standard periodic table have?
- A. Twelve
- B. Eight
- C. Seven
- D. Six
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Seven
Did you know? The standard table runs through seven periods.
26.Which lanthanide powers the strongest permanent magnets?
- A. Lanthanum
- B. Neodymium
- C. Cerium
- D. Europium
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Neodymium
Did you know? Neodymium magnets are the strongest permanent magnets in common use.
27.Which noble gas, radioactive, seeps from soil into house basements?
- A. Xenon
- B. Krypton
- C. Argon
- D. Radon
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Radon
Did you know? Radon is the radioactive noble gas that accumulates in basements.
28.Which metal is the lightest of the alkali metals?
- A. Sodium
- B. Rubidium
- C. Lithium
- D. Potassium
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Lithium
Did you know? Lithium tops group 1 as its lightest metal.
29.Elements with properties between metals and nonmetals are called what?
- A. Metalloids
- B. Isotopes
- C. Halides
- D. Alloys
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Metalloids
Did you know? Metalloids like silicon and boron straddle the metal-nonmetal line.
30.Which noble gas did Rayleigh and Ramsay isolate in 1894 as the first of its family?
- A. Krypton
- B. Neon
- C. Xenon
- D. Argon
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Argon
Did you know? Argon was the first noble gas isolated, spotted in "leftover" air.
31.Which family of metals is nicknamed the "rare earths"?
- A. Halogens
- B. Lanthanides
- C. Alkali metals
- D. Actinides
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Lanthanides
Did you know? The lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium are called the rare earths.
32.Which stone layer in the blast furnace carries the reducing agent?
- A. Coke
- B. Limestone
- C. Iron ore
- D. Slag
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Coke
Did you know? Coke burns to the carbon monoxide that pulls oxygen off iron.
33.Which iron oxide mineral is the main ore of steel's metal?
- A. Bauxite
- B. Hematite
- C. Pyrite
- D. Malachite
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Hematite
Did you know? Hematite, iron oxide, feeds the world's blast furnaces.
34.Which devilish metal is named "kupfernickel", Old Nick's copper, for pretending to be copper ore?
- A. Nickel
- B. Cadmium
- C. Cobalt
- D. Arsenic
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Nickel
Did you know? Nickel is "kupfernickel", the devil's copper that fooled German miners.
35.Which additive captures sand impurities as slag in the furnace?
- A. Coke
- B. Alumina
- C. Limestone
- D. Magnesia
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Limestone
Did you know? Limestone flux traps silica into removable slag.
36.Which fluorine mineral glows under ultraviolet light, giving "fluorescence" its name?
- A. Gypsum
- B. Quartz
- C. Fluorite
- D. Calcite
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Fluorite
Did you know? Fluorite's glow named the phenomenon fluorescence.
37.Which alkali metal is the rarest and radioactive, found only in trace amounts?
- A. Rubidium
- B. Barium
- C. Cesium
- D. Francium
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Francium
Did you know? Francium is the rarest natural metal; Earth holds only grams at any moment.
38.Which element, named after the planet Neptune, was the first transuranium element made?
- A. Americium
- B. Plutonium
- C. Neptunium
- D. Curium
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Neptunium
Did you know? Neptunium (1940) was the first element beyond uranium ever made.
39.Which halogen is a deep red liquid at room temperature?
- A. Iodine
- B. Fluorine
- C. Chlorine
- D. Bromine
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Bromine
Did you know? Bromine is the only halogen that is liquid at room temperature.
40.Which mineral fizzes in dilute acid, marking limestone?
- A. Calcite
- B. Talc
- C. Quartz
- D. Halite
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Calcite
Did you know? Calcite's carbonate bubbles in vinegar or dilute acid.

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