Check your answers here.
1. With the symbol F, what is the unit of electrical capacitance? Farad (named after English physicist Michael Faraday)
2. Originally a physician to the gods, conceived by Greek poet Homer, what ancient word is a song of praise or triumph? Paean (from at least 2,700 years ago, Homer's word was Paian, which later came to refer in Greek to a hymn of thanksgiving to Apollo)
3. The metric prefix femto is shown as ten to the power of minus what? 15 (in decimals: 0.000 000 000 000 001 - called in UK/US/Arab world a quadrillionth, or in Europe excluding the UK, a billiardth - see metric prefixes - femto is from Danish/Norwegian femten, meaning fifteen)
4. Balochistan, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Punjab are the four provinces of which nation? Pakistan
5. Spike, Dig, Set, and Block are found in which competitive sport? Volleyball
6. Nuuk, population about 15,000, is the capital city of which country? Greenland
7. From the Greek words loosely meaning 'same' and 'idea' what term refers to an expression which contains unnecessary duplication? Tautology (for example 'a moment in time' or 'repeat it for a second time' [in referring to a single repeat] or 'a free giveaway' - N.B. the word tautology may refer to more complex concepts in science and technical subjects)
8. How is Yellow Fever generally carried/transmitted? Mosquito bite
9. What single vowel letter symbol generally refers in science to 'any element'? E
10. In the musical story Brigadoon, how often does the eponymous Scottish village appear? One hundred years
11. The 1726 novel 'Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts' is better known by what subsequently amended title? Gulliver's Travels (originally full titled: Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships.)
12. Formerly known as the Ellice Islands, in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Australia, what nation owns the commercially available internet top-level domain .tv? Tuvalu
13. The Trucial States became what Arab nation in 1971? United Arab Emirates (or UAE - was also known as Trucial Oman, or Trucial Coast, Trucial Sheikhdoms, and other variants - a British protectorate from 1820-1971 - Trucial refers to truce meaning an agreement to stop fighting)
14. What creature is a Chinese 'shishi', called a 'foo dog' in some western cultures? Lion (stone lion, the meaning of shishi, commonly ceremonial, symbolic, decorative statues in pairs at the entrances to grand or aspiring buildings or gardens, etc - the word foo is thought to be an early western distortion of similar Chinese words meaning Buddha or prosperity)
15. A stonemason commonly refers to unmetamorphosed limestone as what, whose name derives from Greek 'shining stone'? Marble (from Greek marmaros)
16. On humans what is the medical Latin name for the big toe? Hallux
17. With the symbol Sv what is the unit of ionizing radiation? Sievert
18. What word makes new words as a prefix with the words piece, stroke, switch and mind? Master
19. What entertainment originates from ancient Greek spiritualism, literally 'speaking from the stomach'? Ventriloquism (from Greek venter, belly, and loqui, speak - mediums claimed that voices of the dead could be heard in their stomachs)
20. What does the W stand for in the official grading of motor engine oils, for example 5W, 10W, etc? Winter (being indication of its winter/low temperature tolerance)
21. Derived from the use of naval artillery what is the nautical term for the top edge of the side of a boat? Gunwale
22. What sort of sportsman/woman is a pugilist? Boxer
23. Name the NASA Mars mission rover which landed on the planet in 2012? Curiosity
24. What metric prefix, denoting ten to the power of minus twelve, is named from Spanish meaning 'little bit'? Pico
25. Thought to have lived in the 6th century BC, name the first recognised actor, after whom the profession is termed? Thespis (hence thespian)
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