TriviaPrintables

Industrial Chemistry & Materials

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

  1. 1.Which two elements did Berzelius discover, naming one after the moon?

    • A. Thorium and silicon
    • B. Lithium and boron
    • C. Vanadium and barium
    • D. Cerium and selenium
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    Cerium and selenium

    Did you know? Berzelius found cerium in 1803 and moon-named selenium in 1817.

  2. 2.Which Russian chemist moonlighted as the composer of "Prince Igor"?

    • A. Dmitri Mendeleev
    • B. Nikolai Zinin
    • C. Alexander Borodin
    • D. Modest Mussorgsky
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    Alexander Borodin

    Did you know? Borodin's aldehyde reactions shared time with his opera.

  3. 3.Which chemist scaled Haber's ammonia to industry, sharing the Nobel in 1931?

    • A. Carl Bosch
    • B. Fritz Haber
    • C. Walther Nernst
    • D. Friedrich Bergius
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    Carl Bosch

    Did you know? Bosch built the high-pressure plants; the 1931 Nobel saluted it.

  4. 4.Who was Perkin's teacher at the Royal College, the German dye patriarch?

    • A. Justus von Liebig
    • B. Friedrich Kekulé
    • C. Robert Bunsen
    • D. August Wilhelm von Hofmann
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    August Wilhelm von Hofmann

    Did you know? Hofmann's aniline school built the dye industry.

  5. 5.Which gas from Haber's process once served in WWI chemical warfare, his darkest mark?

    • A. Ammonia
    • B. Hydrogen
    • C. Chlorine
    • D. Methane
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    Chlorine

    Did you know? Haber personally oversaw chlorine's 1915 battlefield release.

  6. 6.Which alloy made Roman water pipes and is still used for organ pipes?

    • A. Lead and tin alloys
    • B. Silver and gold
    • C. Copper and zinc
    • D. Iron and nickel
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    Lead and tin alloys

    Did you know? Lead-tin plumber's alloy shaped Roman plumbing.

  7. 7.Which process boosts gasoline's octane by reshaping molecules with platinum?

    • A. Distillation
    • B. Catalytic reforming
    • C. Blending
    • D. Cracking
    Show answer

    Catalytic reforming

    Did you know? Reforming over platinum aromatizes naphtha into octane.

  8. 8.Which catalyst pair shared the 1963 Nobel for polypropylene and polyethylene chemistry?

    • A. Natta and Pino
    • B. Ziegler and Klemm
    • C. Bosch and Bergius
    • D. Ziegler and Natta
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    Ziegler and Natta

    Did you know? Ziegler-Natta catalysts shape today's plastics.

  9. 9.Which 18th-century English process for sulfuric acid used sulfur plus saltpeter?

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

    The lead chamber process

    Did you know? Lead chambers made acid by the ton from 1746.

  10. 10.Which Hungarian chemist invented vitamin C mass production, winning the 1937 Nobel?

    • A. Albert Szent-Györgyi
    • B. Walter Haworth
    • C. Richard Kuhn
    • D. Paul Karrer
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    Albert Szent-Györgyi

    Did you know? Szent-Györgyi's paprika work fed the vitamin industry.

  11. 11.What useful domestic product comes from ammonia plus carbon dioxide in the Solvay process?

    • A. Glass
    • B. Soap
    • C. Bleach
    • D. Sodium bicarbonate
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    Sodium bicarbonate

    Did you know? The Solvay process turns brine, ammonia, and CO2 into washing soda.

  12. 12.Which metal's oxide cathode did John Goodenough's 1980 Oxford group find superior?

    • A. Iron
    • B. Cobalt
    • C. Manganese
    • D. Titanium
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    Cobalt

    Did you know? Cobalt oxide cathodes doubled cell voltage.

  13. 13.Which adhesive is the original contact cement base from rubber?

    • A. Epoxy
    • B. Cyanoacrylate
    • C. Rubber-based cement
    • D. Silicone
    Show answer

    Rubber-based cement

    Did you know? Rubber cements dry by solvent evaporation.

  14. 14.Which fuel did Rudolf Diesel's 1890s engine originally burn, peanut oil included?

    • A. Coal dust
    • B. Gasoline
    • C. Peanut and vegetable oils
    • D. Kerosene only
    Show answer

    Peanut and vegetable oils

    Did you know? Diesel's engine ran on peanut oil at the 1900 Paris fair.

  15. 15.Which plastic wrap was discovered by accident at Dow in 1933?

    • A. Saran wrap
    • B. Cellophane
    • C. Kapton
    • D. Teflon sheet
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    Saran wrap

    Did you know? Saran's cling was found by a lab assistant's spill.

  16. 16.Which 8th-century alchemical tradition first wrote of sulfuric acid's ancestor, "oil of vitriol"?

    • A. Basil Valentine
    • B. Andreas Libavius
    • C. Jabir ibn Hayyan tradition
    • D. Hennig Brand
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    Jabir ibn Hayyan tradition

    Did you know? Vitriol oils appear in Jabir's early alchemical corpus.

  17. 17.Which purple dye did Adolf von Baeyer's lab chemically master, winning the 1905 Nobel?

    • A. Alizarin
    • B. Chlorophyll
    • C. Mauveine
    • D. Indigo
    Show answer

    Indigo

    Did you know? Baeyer's indigo synthesis closed the plant-dye era.

  18. 18.Which 1950s engineer put alkaline batteries on the market at Eveready?

    • A. Gaston Planté
    • B. Samuel Ruben
    • C. Lewis Urry
    • D. Waldemar Jungner
    Show answer

    Lewis Urry

    Did you know? Urry's alkaline AA still powers toys worldwide.

  19. 19.Which material is the paper-rolling additive kaolin also used as?

    • A. Textile dye
    • B. Fuel additive
    • C. Paper coating
    • D. Bleaching agent
    Show answer

    Paper coating

    Did you know? Kaolin coats glossy paper stock.

  20. 20.Which WWI-blockaded country first mass-made synthetic rubber, from acetylene?

    • A. Germany
    • B. Japan
    • C. Britain
    • D. Italy
    Show answer

    Germany

    Did you know? Germany's methyl rubber filled tires through the blockade.

  21. 21.Who first synthesized acetic acid from inorganic chemicals in 1845?

    • A. Friedrich Wöhler
    • B. Adolph Bayer
    • C. Hermann Kolbe
    • D. Justus von Liebig
    Show answer

    Hermann Kolbe

    Did you know? Kolbe's acetic acid was the second anti-vitalism synthesis.

  22. 22.Which nickel-cadmium rechargeable battery did Waldemar Jungner patent in 1899?

    • A. Alkaline cell
    • B. Lithium cell
    • C. NiMH battery
    • D. NiCd battery
    Show answer

    NiCd battery

    Did you know? Jungner's NiCd pioneered portable rechargeable power.

  23. 23.Which German chemist coined the word "polymerization" in the 1830s?

    • A. Hermann Staudinger
    • B. Jöns Berzelius
    • C. Friedrich Wöhler
    • D. Justus von Liebig
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    Jöns Berzelius

    Did you know? Berzelius coined polymerism; Staudinger proved macromolecules.

  24. 24.Which 1836 cell fixed the voltaic pile's polarization problem?

    • A. Leclanché cell
    • B. Dry cell
    • C. Lead-acid cell
    • D. Daniell cell
    Show answer

    Daniell cell

    Did you know? The Daniell cell's copper sulfate bath steadied voltage.

  25. 25.Which process of 1909 do we owe to Fritz Hofmann's synthetic rubber work at Bayer?

    • A. Styrene-butadiene
    • B. Methyl isoprene rubber
    • C. Vulcanization
    • D. Neoprene
    Show answer

    Methyl isoprene rubber

    Did you know? Hofmann's 1909 patent opened synthetic rubber.

  26. 26.Which polymer discovery of 1938 hit du Pont's chlorine-fluorine lab work?

    • A. Neoprene
    • B. Teflon
    • C. Nylon
    • D. PVC
    Show answer

    Teflon

    Did you know? Teflon's accidental gas cylinder check revealed a white solid.

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