100 General Knowledge Quiz Questions & Answers (2026)

💡 From the Latin word "Aurum". Gold's symbol Au has been used since the periodic table was standardised.

💡 Babies are born with around 270-300 bones, but many fuse together as we grow. Adults have 206 bones.

💡 Light travels at approximately 300,000 kilometres per second, fast enough to circle the Earth 7.5 times in one second.

💡 Jupiter is so massive that all other planets could fit inside it. It also has at least 95 known moons.

💡 Plants absorb CO₂ and water, and using sunlight produce glucose and oxygen, the oxygen we breathe.

💡 Mitochondria generate most of the cell's supply of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), used as a source of chemical energy.

💡 Diamond scores 10 on the Mohs hardness scale, the maximum. It is a form of carbon with atoms arranged in a crystal structure.

💡 Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, 22 autosomal pairs and 1 pair of sex chromosomes (XX for female, XY for male).

💡 Earth's atmosphere is approximately 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% other gases including argon and CO₂.

💡 Mars appears red because its surface is covered in iron oxide (rust). It has the largest volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons.

💡 Sodium's symbol Na comes from its Latin name "Natrium". It is a soft, highly reactive alkali metal.

💡 Mercury is the smallest planet and the closest to the Sun, with a diameter of about 4,880 km.

💡 Gravity is the attractive force between masses. Newton described it in his law of universal gravitation in 1687.

💡 The skin is the body's largest organ. It protects against pathogens, regulates temperature, and enables the sense of touch.

💡 White blood cells (leukocytes) are part of the immune system and defend the body against infections and foreign invaders.

💡 Water freezes into ice at 0 degrees Celsius (32°F) at standard atmospheric pressure.

💡 Saturn's rings are made mostly of ice particles with rocky debris and dust. It has more than 140 known moons.

💡 Cells use oxygen to release energy from food (respiration), producing carbon dioxide as a waste product.

💡 All adult insects have three pairs of legs (six total), a defining feature of the class Insecta.

💡 On the pH scale (0–14), 7 is neutral. Values below 7 are acidic and values above 7 are alkaline (basic).

💡 Not Sydney or Melbourne, Canberra became Australia's capital in 1913 as a compromise between the two rival cities.

💡 The Nile in Africa stretches approximately 6,650 km and flows northward through 11 countries before emptying into the Mediterranean Sea.

💡 Russia covers approximately 17.1 million km², nearly twice the size of the next largest country, Canada.

💡 Vatican City covers just 0.44 km² and has a population of around 800 people. It is an independent city-state within Rome.

💡 The Pacific Ocean covers approximately 165 million km², larger than all the world's landmasses combined.

💡 Not Toronto or Vancouver, Ottawa has been Canada's capital since 1857. It is located in the province of Ontario.

💡 Antarctica is technically the world's largest desert at 14 million km². The Sahara is the largest hot desert.

💡 Canada has over 2 million lakes, containing approximately 60% of the world's fresh surface water.

💡 Everest (8,849 m) straddles the border of Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It was first summited in 1953.

💡 Not Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo, Brasília became Brazil's capital in 1960, replacing Rio de Janeiro.

💡 Tokyo is the capital and most populous metropolitan area of Japan, and one of the largest cities in the world.

💡 The Sahara is the world's largest hot desert, covering much of North Africa across around 9.2 million km².

💡 Turkey straddles Europe and Asia across the Bosphorus. Russia and Kazakhstan are also transcontinental.

💡 Mount Everest reaches 8,849 m above sea level. Measured from base to peak, however, Mauna Kea in Hawaii is taller.

💡 The Dead Sea is about 10 times saltier than the ocean, and its shore is the lowest land point on Earth.

💡 The seven continents are Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.

💡 India overtook China as the most populous country in 2023, with over 1.4 billion people.

💡 The Great Wall stretches over 21,000 km in total across northern China, built over many centuries.

💡 Ethiopia successfully resisted Italian invasion, notably defeating Italy at the Battle of Adwa in 1896.

💡 Greenland covers about 2.16 million km². Australia is larger but is classified as a continent, not an island.

💡 WWII ended in 1945 with Germany's surrender on 8 May (VE Day) and Japan's surrender on 15 August (VJ Day), formally signed on 2 September.

💡 Neil Armstrong became the first human to step on the Moon on 20 July 1969 during the Apollo 11 mission. Buzz Aldrin followed shortly after.

💡 Carthage, a powerful ancient civilisation, was located near modern-day Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, in North Africa.

💡 Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512, commissioned by Pope Julius II. The "Creation of Adam" is its most famous scene.

💡 The Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989, marking the end of the Cold War era and leading to the reunification of Germany in 1990.

💡 Margaret Thatcher served as UK Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, the longest-serving PM of the 20th century.

💡 The Mongol Empire, founded by Genghis Khan in 1206, became the largest contiguous land empire in history at its peak.

💡 India gained independence on 15 August 1947, following the Indian Independence Act passed by the British Parliament.

💡 The RMS Titanic sank on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic, resulting in the loss of over 1,500 lives.

💡 Cleopatra VII was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. She formed alliances with both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.

💡 World War I began in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and lasted until 1918.

💡 George Washington served as the first US President from 1789 to 1797, after leading the Continental Army.

💡 The Giza pyramids were built as royal tombs around 2560 BCE, during Egypt's Old Kingdom period.

💡 Gandhi championed satyagraha (non-violent resistance), inspiring civil rights movements worldwide.

💡 The Renaissance, a revival of art and learning, began in Italy in the 14th century, notably in Florence.

💡 Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama reached India by sea in 1498, opening a direct trade route from Europe.

💡 The Civil War was fought over slavery and states' rights, ending with the Union's victory and the abolition of slavery.

💡 Hitler led Germany from 1933 to 1945. His regime's aggression triggered WWII and the Holocaust.

💡 The Great Pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the only one largely intact.

💡 Apollo 11 landed on the Moon on 20 July 1969, with Neil Armstrong becoming the first person to walk on it.

💡 Each team has 11 players on the pitch, including a goalkeeper. Substitutes wait on the bench.

💡 Brazil has won the World Cup five times: 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, and 2002, more than any other nation.

💡 A slam dunk occurs when a player jumps and forcefully pushes the ball down through the basket from above the rim.

💡 The four Grand Slams are: the Australian Open, the French Open (Roland Garros), Wimbledon, and the US Open.

💡 Qatar hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup, making it the first Middle Eastern country to do so. Argentina won the tournament.

💡 A maximum break of 147 requires potting all 15 reds each followed by the black, then all the colours in order. Also known as a "147".

💡 American swimmer Michael Phelps won 23 Olympic gold medals across four Olympic Games (2000-2016).

💡 The marathon distance of 42.195 km was standardised at the 1908 London Olympics.

💡 LBW is a method of dismissal where the ball hits the batsman's body (usually the leg) instead of the bat and would otherwise have hit the stumps.

💡 Real Madrid has won the UEFA Champions League / European Cup a record 15 times as of 2024.

💡 A cricket team fields 11 players, including specialist batters, bowlers, all-rounders, and a wicketkeeper.

💡 In tennis scoring, "love" means zero. The term is thought to derive from the French "l'oeuf" (egg), meaning nothing.

💡 The modern Summer Olympics are held every four years. The first modern Games took place in Athens in 1896.

💡 Table tennis originated in England in the late 1800s as an after-dinner parlour game among the upper class.

💡 A shot made from beyond the three-point arc is worth three points; shots inside it are worth two.

💡 Muhammad Ali was a three-time world heavyweight champion, famous for his skill and cultural influence.

💡 The five interlocking rings represent the five inhabited continents united by the Olympic movement.

💡 The shuttlecock (also called a birdie) is the projectile hit back and forth over the net in badminton.

💡 The USA leads the all-time Olympic gold medal count by a wide margin across the Summer Games.

💡 Sumo is Japan's national sport, a traditional form of wrestling with deep cultural and ceremonial roots.

💡 The World Wide Web was invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 while working at CERN. It is distinct from the internet itself.

💡 Android was developed by Android Inc., which was purchased by Google in 2005. It launched as a public mobile OS in 2008.

💡 Artificial Intelligence refers to machines or software that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, and problem-solving.

💡 Apple was co-founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne on 1 April 1976. Wozniak designed the original Apple I computer.

💡 The CPU is often called the "brain" of a computer. It executes instructions from programs by performing arithmetic, logic, control, and input/output operations.

💡 Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone on 9 January 2007 at Macworld Expo. It went on sale on 29 June 2007.

💡 HTML is the standard language for creating web pages. It was invented by Tim Berners-Lee and first published in 1993.

💡 Twitter, now rebranded as X, introduced 280-character tweets in 2017, doubling the original 140-character limit.

💡 JavaScript runs in virtually every web browser and is essential for interactive web development. Node.js also allows it to run server-side.

💡 GPS is a satellite-based navigation system developed by the US Department of Defense. It uses at least 24 satellites to provide location data.

💡 USB is a standard for connecting devices and transferring data or power. It was introduced in the mid-1990s.

💡 Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft in 1975. Its Windows OS became the world's most used desktop platform.

💡 RAM is a computer's short-term memory, storing data currently in use. It is volatile, losing data when powered off.

💡 OpenAI released ChatGPT in late 2022. It is built on the GPT family of large language models.

💡 A URL is the web address used to locate a resource on the internet, such as a web page or file.

💡 ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was one of the earliest general-purpose electronic computers.

💡 Wi-Fi uses radio waves to let devices connect to a local network and the internet without cables.

💡 Python was named after the comedy group Monty Python, not the snake, but its logo features snakes. It is widely used in data science and AI.

💡 PDF, created by Adobe in 1993, preserves a document's layout and formatting across different devices and software.

💡 Binary uses only 0 and 1. All digital data in computers is ultimately represented as sequences of these two digits.