Free quiz · 8 questions · Warm-up to Boss

Inventions quiz

How well do you really know Inventions? These 8 questions start easy and end with a Boss round. There are no multiple choice options: you type what you know, and every answer is checked against the key facts.

60 seconds a question, one 2x boost, and a leaderboard. Playing with friends writes a fresh set of Inventions questions for your group.

The questions

1. Warm-up

   Lost at sea with no landmarks, what instrument helps a sailor find direction, and what natural force guides its needle?

   Show the answer

   • A compass indicates direction.
   • Its needle aligns with Earth’s magnetic field.
   • The needle’s north-seeking end points roughly toward magnetic north.
2. Easy

   What fuzzy growth did Alexander Fleming notice in 1928, and what medicine did his discovery help bring into use?

   Show the answer

   • Fleming noticed mold growing on a culture plate.
   • The mold produced penicillin.
   • Penicillin became the first widely used antibiotic.
3. Easy

   A refrigerator is a heat-moving machine: what does its refrigerant absorb inside the fridge, and where does it release that heat?

   Show the answer

   • The refrigerant absorbs heat from inside the refrigerator.
   • It releases the heat into the surrounding room air.
   • The refrigerant circulates through a closed system.
4. Easy

   A walk in the woods inspired a clever fastener: what is it called, and what natural structure inspired its hooks?

   Show the answer

   • Velcro
   • Burrs, especially burdock burrs
   • Tiny hooks that catch on loops
5. Medium

   Tim Berners-Lee made linked pages browsable: name his invention, and say how it differs from the internet that carries it.

   Show the answer

   • Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web (the Web).
   • The Web is a system of linked pages or information accessed over the internet; the internet is the underlying network.
6. Medium

   Rubber could turn sticky in heat and brittle in cold: what process made it more useful, and what substance is used in that process?

   Show the answer

   • Vulcanization
   • Sulfur is used to treat the rubber
   • The process makes rubber more durable across temperature changes
7. Medium

   An elevator cable snaps in a safety test: what device is designed to stop the car, and who helped invent it?

   Show the answer

   • The elevator safety brake or safety elevator.
   • Elisha Otis helped develop it.
   • It grips the guide rails to stop the elevator car if its lifting cable fails.
8. Boss

   Which Scottish engineer made the steam engine far more practical, and what key change helped it use less fuel?

   Show the answer

   • The engineer was James Watt.
   • He developed a separate condenser for the steam engine.
   • The separate condenser reduced wasted heat and fuel use.

How scoring works

• Each question has 2 or 3 key facts. Each one earns full, half or no credit, so a wrong answer scores zero.
• Later questions are worth more, fast answers earn a bonus, and great answers in a row build a streak.
• A famous myth or a clear factual error halves the points.

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