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Can You Beat This Science Quiz?

Eight questions about planets, light, extreme cold and surprisingly tough animals. Most people get the hottest-planet question wrong. Will you?

By MindSteal Editorial TeamPublished Updated
An atom with glowing electron orbits next to a ringed planet and a stopwatch
Original artwork by MindSteal

Science is at its best when it surprises you. This quiz is built around answers that trip up even confident science fans. So trust what you know, but maybe don't trust your first instinct too much.

You'll get eight multiple-choice questions. After each one, you'll see whether you got it right, plus a short explanation. The full list of sources sits below the quiz. Your score and result show up at the end, and you can share your result to challenge a friend.

Question 1 of 8

Roughly what share of Earth's dry air is nitrogen?

Sources

Fact-checked and editorially reviewed on .

  1. Earth Fact Sheet, NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive

    Atmospheric composition and the Earth–Sun distance.

  2. Venus: Facts, NASA Science
  3. Jupiter: Facts, NASA Science
  4. Speed of light in vacuum, NIST CODATA Fundamental Physical Constants
  5. Meter: Redefining the SI, NIST

    The metre was redefined in terms of the speed of light in 1983.

  6. Kelvin: Introduction, NIST
  7. Tardigrades survive exposure to space in low Earth orbit, Current Biology (Jönsson et al.), 2008
  8. Magnetic Compass of European Robins, Science (Wiltschko & Wiltschko), 1972

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