Inventions & Discoveries

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

1.Which writing tool took shape when Nicolas-Jacques Conté mixed graphite with clay in 1795?
- A. the modern pencil
- B. the potluck
- C. the Pentagon
- D. the lunch hour
Show answer
the modern pencil
Did you know? Conté's recipe let pencil hardness be tuned by changing the clay ratio.
2.Which amusement ride debuted at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair?
- A. the log flume
- B. the Ferris wheel
- C. the roller coaster
- D. the carousel
Show answer
the Ferris wheel
Did you know? George Ferris built his wheel to rival the Eiffel Tower.
3.Which invention launched by Sony in 1979, made music portable?
- A. the ice cream cone
- B. the trampoline
- C. the rubber band
- D. the Walkman
Show answer
the Walkman
Did you know? The Walkman sold in the hundreds of millions across its versions.
4.Which children's modeling dough started life as a wallpaper cleaner?
- A. Silly Putty
- B. Play-Doh
- C. LEGO bricks
- D. the Etch A Sketch
Show answer
Play-Doh
Did you know? Play-Doh began as a wallpaper cleaner in the 1930s.
5.Which invention made its first successful jump from a balloon with André-Jacques Garnerin in 1797?
- A. the pop-up toaster
- B. the trampoline
- C. the vacuum cleaner
- D. the parachute
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the parachute
Did you know? Leonardo da Vinci had sketched parachute designs centuries earlier.
6.Which invention became famous at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis?
- A. the ice cream cone
- B. the friction match
- C. the parachute
- D. the shopping cart
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the ice cream cone
Did you know? When fair vendors ran out of dishes, waffle makers rolled their waffles into cones.
7.Which invention was first built at Kodak in 1975 by engineer Steven Sasson?
- A. the friction match
- B. the digital camera
- C. the slinky
- D. the drinking straw
Show answer
the digital camera
Did you know? Sasson's first digital camera took black-and-white images of 0.01 megapixels.
8.Which invention was demonstrated in 1826 by the English chemist John Walker?
- A. the friction match
- B. the dishwasher
- C. the rubber band
- D. the safety pin
Show answer
the friction match
Did you know? John Walker never patented his match.
9.Which invention was patented in 1899 by the Norwegian inventor Johan Vaaler?
- A. the paperclip
- B. the jigsaw puzzle
- C. the vacuum cleaner
- D. the escalator
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the paperclip
Did you know? The paperclip's double-loop wire design became the standard.
10.Which invention was introduced by Sylvan Goldman in 1937?
- A. the vacuum cleaner
- B. the shopping cart
- C. the photocopier
- D. the escalator
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the shopping cart
Did you know? Goldman built the first carts from folding chairs and baskets.
11.Which invention grew out of Chester Carlson's 1938 xerography experiments?
- A. the photocopier
- B. the drinking straw
- C. the slinky
- D. the paperclip
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the photocopier
Did you know? Carlson's process was later commercialized by the Xerox company.
12.Which finds consist of Iron Age people naturally preserved in peat bogs?
- A. Malbork Castle
- B. the General Sherman tree
- C. etching
- D. bog bodies
Show answer
bog bodies
Did you know? Bog bodies have been found across northern Europe.
13.Which fossil hunter unearthed the first correctly identified ichthyosaur skeleton on England's south coast?
- A. Mary Anning
- B. the nazar
- C. splitting the bill
- D. Andy Warhol
Show answer
Mary Anning
Did you know? Anning found her fossils in the cliffs of Lyme Regis.
14.Which sticky tape got its name from waterproof "duck" fabric?
- A. electrical tape
- B. surgical tape
- C. masking tape
- D. duct tape
Show answer
duct tape
Did you know? Duct tape became a household repair legend after World War II.
15.Which invention received its first patent in 1827, granted to Petrache Poenaru?
- A. the rubber band
- B. the microwave oven
- C. the fountain pen
- D. the shopping cart
Show answer
the fountain pen
Did you know? The fountain pen carries its own ink supply inside the barrel.
16.Which discovery is a bronze disc with gold sky symbols that surfaced in Germany in 1999?
- A. the coco de mer
- B. the Venus de Milo
- C. the Nebra Sky Disc
- D. the Germanic languages
Show answer
the Nebra Sky Disc
Did you know? The Nebra Sky Disc is about 3,600 years old.
17.Which invention was patented by the Scottish scientist David Brewster in 1817?
- A. the trampoline
- B. the ice cream cone
- C. the kaleidoscope
- D. the QR code
Show answer
the kaleidoscope
Did you know? The kaleidoscope works with angled mirrors and loose colored pieces.
18.Which invention was patented by Charles Strite in 1921?
- A. the dishwasher
- B. the escalator
- C. the pop-up toaster
- D. the rubber band
Show answer
the pop-up toaster
Did you know? Strite designed the toaster for restaurants tired of burnt toast.
19.Which invention was reinvented in paper form by Marvin Stone in 1888?
- A. the friction match
- B. the barcode
- C. the drinking straw
- D. the pop-up toaster
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the drinking straw
Did you know? Straws were previously cut from rye grass.
20.Which invention began with Hubert Booth's huge, horse-drawn machine of 1901?
- A. the rubber band
- B. the paperclip
- C. the ice cream cone
- D. the vacuum cleaner
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the vacuum cleaner
Did you know? Booth's early cleaner parked outside while hoses ran through windows.
21.Which invention was built in 1936 by George Nissen, inspired by the safety nets of trapeze artists?
- A. the drinking straw
- B. the digital camera
- C. the trampoline
- D. the safety pin
Show answer
the trampoline
Did you know? Nissen first stretched canvas over a metal frame in his garage.
22.Which invention was patented by Jesse Reno, whose moving ramp opened at Coney Island in 1896?
- A. the ice cream cone
- B. the escalator
- C. the shopping cart
- D. the sticky note
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the escalator
Did you know? Early escalators were promoted as amusement rides.
23.Which invention was born in 1943 when a spring fell off a shelf and appeared to walk?
- A. the ice cream cone
- B. the vacuum cleaner
- C. the slinky
- D. the escalator
Show answer
the slinky
Did you know? The slinky was demonstrated at Gimbels department store in 1945.
24.Which invention was patented in 1845 by Stephen Perry of London?
- A. the sticky note
- B. the ice cream cone
- C. the rubber band
- D. the trampoline
Show answer
the rubber band
Did you know? Rubber bands were first sold to hold papers and envelopes.

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