TriviaPrintables

Industrial Chemistry & Materials

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

  1. 1.What are the raw materials of ammonia synthesis?

    • A. Oxygen and hydrogen
    • B. Methane and air
    • C. Nitrogen and oxygen
    • D. Nitrogen and hydrogen
    Show answer

    Nitrogen and hydrogen

    Did you know? The Haber process pulls nitrogen from air and hydrogen from gas.

  2. 2.Who built the first electrochemical battery, the voltaic pile of 1800?

    • A. Alessandro Volta
    • B. Luigi Galvani
    • C. Georges Leclanché
    • D. Michael Faraday
    Show answer

    Alessandro Volta

    Did you know? Volta's stacked zinc-copper discs gave steady current.

  3. 3.Which Swedish chemist invented modern chemical symbols like H2O?

    • A. Scheele
    • B. Jöns Jacob Berzelius
    • C. Arrhenius
    • D. Linnaeus
    Show answer

    Jöns Jacob Berzelius

    Did you know? Berzelius's letter symbols replaced alchemical pictures.

  4. 4.Which potassium fertilizer salt comes chiefly from Saskatchewan mines?

    • A. Sulfur
    • B. Gypsum
    • C. Limestone
    • D. Potash
    Show answer

    Potash

    Did you know? Canada's Saskatchewan mines rule world potash.

  5. 5.Which German chemist won the 1918 Nobel for ammonia synthesis?

    • A. Walther Nernst
    • B. Fritz Haber
    • C. Otto Hahn
    • D. Carl Bosch
    Show answer

    Fritz Haber

    Did you know? Haber's ammonia fed billions, fertilizer made from air.

  6. 6.Which benzene ring structure did Kekulé claim came from a snake-dream?

    • A. The cube
    • B. The hexagonal ring
    • C. The straight chain
    • D. The tetrahedron
    Show answer

    The hexagonal ring

    Did you know? Kekulé's ouroboros dream cracked benzene's ring.

  7. 7.Which polymer family makes plastic water bottles?

    • A. Teflon
    • B. Polystyrene foam
    • C. Polyvinyl chloride
    • D. PET polyester
    Show answer

    PET polyester

    Did you know? PET, a polyester, holds water clear and light.

  8. 8.Which standard's founder, John D. Rockefeller, built the oil monopoly?

    • A. BP
    • B. Shell
    • C. Texaco
    • D. Standard Oil
    Show answer

    Standard Oil

    Did you know? Standard Oil refined 90 percent of American oil by 1880.

  9. 9.Which bulletproof fiber did Stephanie Kwolek invent at DuPont in 1965?

    • A. Kevlar
    • B. Fiberglass
    • C. Carbon fiber
    • D. Nylon
    Show answer

    Kevlar

    Did you know? Kwolek's Kevlar is five times stronger than steel by weight.

  10. 10.From which country did Ernest Solvay perfect the ammonia-soda process?

    • A. Germany
    • B. France
    • C. England
    • D. Belgium
    Show answer

    Belgium

    Did you know? Belgium's Solvay outcompeted Leblanc by 1880.

  11. 11.Which acid is produced in the largest industrial tonnage worldwide?

    • A. Sulfuric acid
    • B. Hydrochloric acid
    • C. Citric acid
    • D. Nitric acid
    Show answer

    Sulfuric acid

    Did you know? Sulfuric acid tops world production, a chemical-economy barometer.

  12. 12.Which fertilizer nutrient does ammonia synthesis chiefly supply?

    • A. Potassium
    • B. Calcium
    • C. Phosphorus
    • D. Nitrogen
    Show answer

    Nitrogen

    Did you know? Fixed nitrogen from ammonia feeds half the world's crops.

  13. 13.Which pair of gases does the Haber process combine?

    • A. Hydrogen and oxygen
    • B. Oxygen and nitrogen
    • C. Nitrogen and hydrogen
    • D. Carbon and oxygen
    Show answer

    Nitrogen and hydrogen

    Did you know? Haber squeezes N2 and H2 into ammonia under pressure.

  14. 14.Which element gives lead crystal its sparkle and weight?

    • A. Boron
    • B. Silicon
    • C. Zinc
    • D. Lead
    Show answer

    Lead

    Did you know? Lead oxide bends light, glittering in crystal ware.

  15. 15.What does an oil refinery's distillation tower do?

    • A. Separates crude by boiling point
    • B. Adds hydrogen
    • C. Burns off impurities
    • D. Freezes the oil
    Show answer

    Separates crude by boiling point

    Did you know? Crude climbs the tower and condenses in fractions.

  16. 16.Which fully synthetic plastic did Leo Baekeland patent in 1907?

    • A. Bakelite
    • B. Polyethylene
    • C. PVC
    • D. Nylon
    Show answer

    Bakelite

    Did you know? Bakelite, heat-proof phenolic resin, opened the plastic age.

  17. 17.Which lead-acid battery electrolyte is sulfuric acid diluted?

    • A. Hydrochloric acid
    • B. Sulfuric acid
    • C. Nitric acid
    • D. Citric acid
    Show answer

    Sulfuric acid

    Did you know? Car batteries run on diluted sulfuric acid.

  18. 18.Which alloy do blacksmiths mean by plain "steel" with carbon?

    • A. Iron plus carbon
    • B. Iron plus nickel
    • C. Copper plus tin
    • D. Aluminum plus zinc
    Show answer

    Iron plus carbon

    Did you know? Steel is iron with a pinch of carbon for strength.

  19. 19.Which refinery fraction powers most cars?

    • A. Gasoline
    • B. Kerosene
    • C. Diesel
    • D. Asphalt
    Show answer

    Gasoline

    Did you know? Gasoline condenses in the mid-light range of the tower.

  20. 20.Which stretchy polymer family did Charles Goodyear vulcanize by accident in 1839?

    • A. Silicone
    • B. Polyurethane
    • C. Rubber
    • D. Epoxy
    Show answer

    Rubber

    Did you know? Goodyear's sulfur-heated rubber stopped melting in summer.

  21. 21.Which alloy family does 18-karat gold belong to?

    • A. Pure gold
    • B. Gold-silver-copper alloy
    • C. Gold-tin alloy
    • D. Gold-iron alloy
    Show answer

    Gold-silver-copper alloy

    Did you know? 18-karat gold mixes pure gold with silver and copper.

  22. 22.Which furnace recycles scrap steel with electric arcs?

    • A. The open hearth
    • B. The blast furnace
    • C. The electric arc furnace
    • D. The crucible
    Show answer

    The electric arc furnace

    Did you know? Electric arc furnaces melt scrap steel with graphite electrodes.

  23. 23.Which synthetic fiber did Wallace Carothers announce at DuPont in 1935?

    • A. Spandex
    • B. Nylon
    • C. Acrylic
    • D. Polyester
    Show answer

    Nylon

    Did you know? Nylon stockings hit stores in 1940, a sensation.

  24. 24.Which fired clay product lines ovens and sewers?

    • A. Glass
    • B. Asphalt
    • C. Concrete
    • D. Ceramic
    Show answer

    Ceramic

    Did you know? Fired clay turns into waterproof, heat-proof ceramic.

  25. 25.In which kind of rock does crude oil chiefly form and pool?

    • A. Metamorphic rock
    • B. Igneous rock
    • C. Sedimentary rock
    • D. Marble
    Show answer

    Sedimentary rock

    Did you know? Oil forms and pools in sedimentary basins, under salt caps and anticlines.

  26. 26.Which main compound makes ordinary window glass?

    • A. Boron nitride
    • B. Aluminum oxide alone
    • C. Silicon dioxide with soda and lime
    • D. Calcium sulfate
    Show answer

    Silicon dioxide with soda and lime

    Did you know? Soda-lime glass is silica melted with sodium and calcium.

  27. 27.Which heavy fraction paves roads?

    • A. Gasoline
    • B. Naphtha
    • C. Propane
    • D. Asphalt
    Show answer

    Asphalt

    Did you know? Asphalt is the tower-bottom residue.

  28. 28.Which waste product did the Leblanc process spew, fouling towns?

    • A. Oxygen
    • B. Steam
    • C. Hydrogen chloride gas
    • D. Nitrogen
    Show answer

    Hydrogen chloride gas

    Did you know? Leblanc's HCl clouds rained acid on Victorian towns.

  29. 29.What is Avogadro's number, roughly?

    • A. 3 times 10 to the 8th
    • B. 6 times 10 to the 12th
    • C. 6 times 10 to the 23rd
    • D. 9 times 10 to the 9th
    Show answer

    6 times 10 to the 23rd

    Did you know? One mole counts 6.02 times ten to the 23rd particles.

  30. 30.Whose frog-leg experiments inspired Volta's pile?

    • A. Humphry Davy
    • B. Alessandro Volta
    • C. John Daniell
    • D. Luigi Galvani
    Show answer

    Luigi Galvani

    Did you know? Galvani's "animal electricity" sparked the battery race.

  31. 31.Which term did Berzelius coin for the catalytic effect?

    • A. Catalysis
    • B. Electrolysis
    • C. Isomerism
    • D. Polymer
    Show answer

    Catalysis

    Did you know? Berzelius named catalysis in 1835.

  32. 32.Which dye did William Perkin accidentally synthesize in 1856, launching the coal-tar industry?

    • A. Aniline blue
    • B. Indigo
    • C. Alizarin
    • D. Mauveine
    Show answer

    Mauveine

    Did you know? Perkin's mauve purple dyed an empire.

  33. 33.Which glaze ingredient makes pottery waterproof?

    • A. Latex mold compound
    • B. Natural wax resist
    • C. Linseed oil seal
    • D. Silica glass
    Show answer

    Silica glass

    Did you know? Glaze melts into a glassy seal over the clay.

  34. 34.Which lead compound once boosted octane before being banned?

    • A. Manganese dioxide
    • B. Iron pentacarbonyl
    • C. Methyl bromide
    • D. Tetraethyl lead
    Show answer

    Tetraethyl lead

    Did you know? Thomas Midgley's leaded gasoline became a global health lesson.

  35. 35.Which accidentally polymerized wax did Hans von Pechmann find in 1898, later a plastic star?

    • A. Polystyrene
    • B. Teflon
    • C. Polypropylene
    • D. Polyethylene
    Show answer

    Polyethylene

    Did you know? Polyethylene's 1930s high-pressure route made it the world's top plastic.

  36. 36.Which 1791 salt-to-soda process launched industrial chemistry?

    • A. The Leblanc process
    • B. The contact process
    • C. The Solvay process
    • D. The Downs process
    Show answer

    The Leblanc process

    Did you know? Leblanc's process made soda ash from salt and sulfuric acid.

  37. 37.Which oxide intermediate does the contact process add to water for acid?

    • A. Sulfur trioxide
    • B. Sulfur dioxide
    • C. Nitrogen dioxide
    • D. Carbon dioxide
    Show answer

    Sulfur trioxide

    Did you know? SO3 absorbed into oleum becomes H2SO4.

  38. 38.Which 1897 synthesis of aspirin was patented by Felix Hoffmann at Bayer?

    • A. Paracetamol
    • B. Quinine
    • C. Acetylsalicylic acid
    • D. Ibuprofen
    Show answer

    Acetylsalicylic acid

    Did you know? Hoffmann's stable aspirin shipped in 1899.

  39. 39.Which extreme condition does the Haber process require for yield?

    • A. High vacuum
    • B. Strong radiation
    • C. Absolute zero
    • D. High pressure
    Show answer

    High pressure

    Did you know? Ammonia forms under hundreds of atmospheres of pressure.

  40. 40.Whose law states equal gas volumes hold equal molecule counts?

    • A. Boyle
    • B. Gay-Lussac
    • C. Dalton
    • D. Avogadro
    Show answer

    Avogadro

    Did you know? Avogadro's 1811 hypothesis equalized volumes and molecules.

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