Industrial Chemistry & Materials
40 questions · Answers revealed below each question · Print this set
1.What are the raw materials of ammonia synthesis?
- A. Oxygen and hydrogen
- B. Methane and air
- C. Nitrogen and oxygen
- D. Nitrogen and hydrogen
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Nitrogen and hydrogen
Did you know? The Haber process pulls nitrogen from air and hydrogen from gas.
2.Who built the first electrochemical battery, the voltaic pile of 1800?
- A. Alessandro Volta
- B. Luigi Galvani
- C. Georges Leclanché
- D. Michael Faraday
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Alessandro Volta
Did you know? Volta's stacked zinc-copper discs gave steady current.
3.Which Swedish chemist invented modern chemical symbols like H2O?
- A. Scheele
- B. Jöns Jacob Berzelius
- C. Arrhenius
- D. Linnaeus
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Jöns Jacob Berzelius
Did you know? Berzelius's letter symbols replaced alchemical pictures.
4.Which potassium fertilizer salt comes chiefly from Saskatchewan mines?
- A. Sulfur
- B. Gypsum
- C. Limestone
- D. Potash
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Potash
Did you know? Canada's Saskatchewan mines rule world potash.
5.Which German chemist won the 1918 Nobel for ammonia synthesis?
- A. Walther Nernst
- B. Fritz Haber
- C. Otto Hahn
- D. Carl Bosch
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Fritz Haber
Did you know? Haber's ammonia fed billions, fertilizer made from air.
6.Which benzene ring structure did Kekulé claim came from a snake-dream?
- A. The cube
- B. The hexagonal ring
- C. The straight chain
- D. The tetrahedron
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The hexagonal ring
Did you know? Kekulé's ouroboros dream cracked benzene's ring.
7.Which polymer family makes plastic water bottles?
- A. Teflon
- B. Polystyrene foam
- C. Polyvinyl chloride
- D. PET polyester
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PET polyester
Did you know? PET, a polyester, holds water clear and light.
8.Which standard's founder, John D. Rockefeller, built the oil monopoly?
- A. BP
- B. Shell
- C. Texaco
- D. Standard Oil
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Standard Oil
Did you know? Standard Oil refined 90 percent of American oil by 1880.
9.Which bulletproof fiber did Stephanie Kwolek invent at DuPont in 1965?
- A. Kevlar
- B. Fiberglass
- C. Carbon fiber
- D. Nylon
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Kevlar
Did you know? Kwolek's Kevlar is five times stronger than steel by weight.
10.From which country did Ernest Solvay perfect the ammonia-soda process?
- A. Germany
- B. France
- C. England
- D. Belgium
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Belgium
Did you know? Belgium's Solvay outcompeted Leblanc by 1880.
11.Which acid is produced in the largest industrial tonnage worldwide?
- A. Sulfuric acid
- B. Hydrochloric acid
- C. Citric acid
- D. Nitric acid
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Sulfuric acid
Did you know? Sulfuric acid tops world production, a chemical-economy barometer.
12.Which fertilizer nutrient does ammonia synthesis chiefly supply?
- A. Potassium
- B. Calcium
- C. Phosphorus
- D. Nitrogen
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Nitrogen
Did you know? Fixed nitrogen from ammonia feeds half the world's crops.
13.Which pair of gases does the Haber process combine?
- A. Hydrogen and oxygen
- B. Oxygen and nitrogen
- C. Nitrogen and hydrogen
- D. Carbon and oxygen
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Nitrogen and hydrogen
Did you know? Haber squeezes N2 and H2 into ammonia under pressure.
14.Which element gives lead crystal its sparkle and weight?
- A. Boron
- B. Silicon
- C. Zinc
- D. Lead
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Lead
Did you know? Lead oxide bends light, glittering in crystal ware.
15.What does an oil refinery's distillation tower do?
- A. Separates crude by boiling point
- B. Adds hydrogen
- C. Burns off impurities
- D. Freezes the oil
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Separates crude by boiling point
Did you know? Crude climbs the tower and condenses in fractions.
16.Which fully synthetic plastic did Leo Baekeland patent in 1907?
- A. Bakelite
- B. Polyethylene
- C. PVC
- D. Nylon
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Bakelite
Did you know? Bakelite, heat-proof phenolic resin, opened the plastic age.
17.Which lead-acid battery electrolyte is sulfuric acid diluted?
- A. Hydrochloric acid
- B. Sulfuric acid
- C. Nitric acid
- D. Citric acid
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Sulfuric acid
Did you know? Car batteries run on diluted sulfuric acid.
18.Which alloy do blacksmiths mean by plain "steel" with carbon?
- A. Iron plus carbon
- B. Iron plus nickel
- C. Copper plus tin
- D. Aluminum plus zinc
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Iron plus carbon
Did you know? Steel is iron with a pinch of carbon for strength.
19.Which refinery fraction powers most cars?
- A. Gasoline
- B. Kerosene
- C. Diesel
- D. Asphalt
Show answer
Gasoline
Did you know? Gasoline condenses in the mid-light range of the tower.
20.Which stretchy polymer family did Charles Goodyear vulcanize by accident in 1839?
- A. Silicone
- B. Polyurethane
- C. Rubber
- D. Epoxy
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Rubber
Did you know? Goodyear's sulfur-heated rubber stopped melting in summer.
21.Which alloy family does 18-karat gold belong to?
- A. Pure gold
- B. Gold-silver-copper alloy
- C. Gold-tin alloy
- D. Gold-iron alloy
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Gold-silver-copper alloy
Did you know? 18-karat gold mixes pure gold with silver and copper.
22.Which furnace recycles scrap steel with electric arcs?
- A. The open hearth
- B. The blast furnace
- C. The electric arc furnace
- D. The crucible
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The electric arc furnace
Did you know? Electric arc furnaces melt scrap steel with graphite electrodes.
23.Which synthetic fiber did Wallace Carothers announce at DuPont in 1935?
- A. Spandex
- B. Nylon
- C. Acrylic
- D. Polyester
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Nylon
Did you know? Nylon stockings hit stores in 1940, a sensation.
24.Which fired clay product lines ovens and sewers?
- A. Glass
- B. Asphalt
- C. Concrete
- D. Ceramic
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Ceramic
Did you know? Fired clay turns into waterproof, heat-proof ceramic.
25.In which kind of rock does crude oil chiefly form and pool?
- A. Metamorphic rock
- B. Igneous rock
- C. Sedimentary rock
- D. Marble
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Sedimentary rock
Did you know? Oil forms and pools in sedimentary basins, under salt caps and anticlines.
26.Which main compound makes ordinary window glass?
- A. Boron nitride
- B. Aluminum oxide alone
- C. Silicon dioxide with soda and lime
- D. Calcium sulfate
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Silicon dioxide with soda and lime
Did you know? Soda-lime glass is silica melted with sodium and calcium.
27.Which heavy fraction paves roads?
- A. Gasoline
- B. Naphtha
- C. Propane
- D. Asphalt
Show answer
Asphalt
Did you know? Asphalt is the tower-bottom residue.
28.Which waste product did the Leblanc process spew, fouling towns?
- A. Oxygen
- B. Steam
- C. Hydrogen chloride gas
- D. Nitrogen
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Hydrogen chloride gas
Did you know? Leblanc's HCl clouds rained acid on Victorian towns.
29.What is Avogadro's number, roughly?
- A. 3 times 10 to the 8th
- B. 6 times 10 to the 12th
- C. 6 times 10 to the 23rd
- D. 9 times 10 to the 9th
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6 times 10 to the 23rd
Did you know? One mole counts 6.02 times ten to the 23rd particles.
30.Whose frog-leg experiments inspired Volta's pile?
- A. Humphry Davy
- B. Alessandro Volta
- C. John Daniell
- D. Luigi Galvani
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Luigi Galvani
Did you know? Galvani's "animal electricity" sparked the battery race.
31.Which term did Berzelius coin for the catalytic effect?
- A. Catalysis
- B. Electrolysis
- C. Isomerism
- D. Polymer
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Catalysis
Did you know? Berzelius named catalysis in 1835.
32.Which dye did William Perkin accidentally synthesize in 1856, launching the coal-tar industry?
- A. Aniline blue
- B. Indigo
- C. Alizarin
- D. Mauveine
Show answer
Mauveine
Did you know? Perkin's mauve purple dyed an empire.
33.Which glaze ingredient makes pottery waterproof?
- A. Latex mold compound
- B. Natural wax resist
- C. Linseed oil seal
- D. Silica glass
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Silica glass
Did you know? Glaze melts into a glassy seal over the clay.
34.Which lead compound once boosted octane before being banned?
- A. Manganese dioxide
- B. Iron pentacarbonyl
- C. Methyl bromide
- D. Tetraethyl lead
Show answer
Tetraethyl lead
Did you know? Thomas Midgley's leaded gasoline became a global health lesson.
35.Which accidentally polymerized wax did Hans von Pechmann find in 1898, later a plastic star?
- A. Polystyrene
- B. Teflon
- C. Polypropylene
- D. Polyethylene
Show answer
Polyethylene
Did you know? Polyethylene's 1930s high-pressure route made it the world's top plastic.
36.Which 1791 salt-to-soda process launched industrial chemistry?
- A. The Leblanc process
- B. The contact process
- C. The Solvay process
- D. The Downs process
Show answer
The Leblanc process
Did you know? Leblanc's process made soda ash from salt and sulfuric acid.
37.Which oxide intermediate does the contact process add to water for acid?
- A. Sulfur trioxide
- B. Sulfur dioxide
- C. Nitrogen dioxide
- D. Carbon dioxide
Show answer
Sulfur trioxide
Did you know? SO3 absorbed into oleum becomes H2SO4.
38.Which 1897 synthesis of aspirin was patented by Felix Hoffmann at Bayer?
- A. Paracetamol
- B. Quinine
- C. Acetylsalicylic acid
- D. Ibuprofen
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Acetylsalicylic acid
Did you know? Hoffmann's stable aspirin shipped in 1899.
39.Which extreme condition does the Haber process require for yield?
- A. High vacuum
- B. Strong radiation
- C. Absolute zero
- D. High pressure
Show answer
High pressure
Did you know? Ammonia forms under hundreds of atmospheres of pressure.
40.Whose law states equal gas volumes hold equal molecule counts?
- A. Boyle
- B. Gay-Lussac
- C. Dalton
- D. Avogadro
Show answer
Avogadro
Did you know? Avogadro's 1811 hypothesis equalized volumes and molecules.
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