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40 Hard general knowledge quiz questions and answers

Hard General Knowledge · Hard · answers included

Forty tougher general knowledge questions: science, art, literature, history, language and numbers. Built to separate the tables in the second half of a quiz, when the easy rounds have left everyone level.

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  1. 1.Which element has the chemical symbol K?

    • Potassium
    • Krypton
    • Calcium
    • Phosphorus
    Show answer

    Potassium

  2. 2.Which is the only letter that does not appear in the name of any US state?

    • J
    • X
    • Q
    • Z
    Show answer

    Q

  3. 3.Which planet rotates on its side, with an axial tilt of about 98 degrees?

    • Neptune
    • Uranus
    • Saturn
    • Venus
    Show answer

    Uranus

  4. 4.Who painted 'The Hay Wain'?

    • J. M. W. Turner
    • Thomas Gainsborough
    • George Stubbs
    • John Constable
    Show answer

    John Constable

  5. 5.In which year was the Battle of Waterloo?

    • 1805
    • 1815
    • 1812
    • 1821
    Show answer

    1815

  6. 6.What is the square root of 169?

    • 12
    • 14
    • 17
    • 13
    Show answer

    13

  7. 7.What is the longest bone in the human body?

    • Tibia
    • Humerus
    • Fibula
    • Femur
    Show answer

    Femur

  8. 8.Which language has the most native speakers in the world?

    • English
    • Mandarin Chinese
    • Spanish
    • Hindi
    Show answer

    Mandarin Chinese

  9. 9.Who wrote 'One Hundred Years of Solitude'?

    • Jorge Luis Borges
    • Isabel Allende
    • Gabriel García Márquez
    • Mario Vargas Llosa
    Show answer

    Gabriel García Márquez

  10. 10.What is the capital of Brazil?

    • Rio de Janeiro
    • São Paulo
    • Brasília
    • Salvador
    Show answer

    Brasília

  11. 11.What is the smallest prime number?

    • 1
    • 3
    • 2
    • 0
    Show answer

    2

  12. 12.In the equation E = mc², what does the c stand for?

    • Charge
    • Constant of gravity
    • Circumference
    • The speed of light
    Show answer

    The speed of light

  13. 13.Which artist cut off part of his own ear in 1888?

    • Paul Gauguin
    • Vincent van Gogh
    • Claude Monet
    • Édouard Manet
    Show answer

    Vincent van Gogh

  14. 14.Which brothers made the first powered aeroplane flight, in 1903?

    • The Wright brothers
    • The Montgolfier brothers
    • The Lumière brothers
    • The Grimm brothers
    Show answer

    The Wright brothers

  15. 15.How many sides does a dodecagon have?

    • 10
    • 12
    • 11
    • 20
    Show answer

    12

  16. 16.Which composer wrote the 'Moonlight' Sonata?

    • Beethoven
    • Mozart
    • Chopin
    • Schubert
    Show answer

    Beethoven

  17. 17.What is a group of owls called?

    • A murder
    • A charm
    • A congress
    • A parliament
    Show answer

    A parliament

  18. 18.In which country is the temple complex of Angkor Wat?

    • Thailand
    • Cambodia
    • Vietnam
    • Laos
    Show answer

    Cambodia

  19. 19.In which Shakespeare play does the line 'To be, or not to be' appear?

    • Macbeth
    • Hamlet
    • King Lear
    • Othello
    Show answer

    Hamlet

  20. 20.What is the most common blood group in the UK?

    • A positive
    • O negative
    • O positive
    • B positive
    Show answer

    O positive

  21. 21.Which naturalist set out the theory of evolution by natural selection in 'On the Origin of Species'?

    • Charles Darwin
    • Alfred Russel Wallace
    • Gregor Mendel
    • Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
    Show answer

    Charles Darwin

  22. 22.What is the name of the galaxy that contains our solar system?

    • Andromeda
    • Triangulum
    • The Milky Way
    • The Large Magellanic Cloud
    Show answer

    The Milky Way

  23. 23.Which author created the detective Sherlock Holmes?

    • Agatha Christie
    • Wilkie Collins
    • G. K. Chesterton
    • Arthur Conan Doyle
    Show answer

    Arthur Conan Doyle

  24. 24.What is the currency of India?

    • The rupiah
    • The taka
    • The rupee
    • The ringgit
    Show answer

    The rupee

  25. 25.Who was the Greek god of the sea?

    • Hermes
    • Poseidon
    • Apollo
    • Hades
    Show answer

    Poseidon

  26. 26.Which Roman town was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79?

    • Ostia
    • Paestum
    • Syracuse
    • Pompeii
    Show answer

    Pompeii

  27. 27.How many bits are there in a byte?

    • 4
    • 10
    • 8
    • 16
    Show answer

    8

  28. 28.What is the longest river in Africa?

    • The Nile
    • The Congo
    • The Niger
    • The Zambezi
    Show answer

    The Nile

  29. 29.Which novel begins 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times'?

    • Great Expectations
    • A Tale of Two Cities
    • Bleak House
    • Oliver Twist
    Show answer

    A Tale of Two Cities

  30. 30.In a web address, what does 'www' stand for?

    • World Wide Web
    • World Web Website
    • Wide Web World
    • World Wide Webpage
    Show answer

    World Wide Web

  31. 31.Who was granted the first US patent for the telephone, in 1876?

    • Thomas Edison
    • Nikola Tesla
    • Guglielmo Marconi
    • Alexander Graham Bell
    Show answer

    Alexander Graham Bell

  32. 32.In which city is Antoni Gaudí's basilica, the Sagrada Família?

    • Madrid
    • Seville
    • Barcelona
    • Valencia
    Show answer

    Barcelona

  33. 33.What is the chemical symbol for silver?

    • Si
    • Sv
    • Au
    • Ag
    Show answer

    Ag

  34. 34.Titan is the largest moon of which planet?

    • Jupiter
    • Uranus
    • Saturn
    • Neptune
    Show answer

    Saturn

  35. 35.What is the largest moon of Jupiter?

    • Ganymede
    • Io
    • Europa
    • Callisto
    Show answer

    Ganymede

  36. 36.Whose portrait is on the US one-dollar bill?

    • George Washington
    • Abraham Lincoln
    • Thomas Jefferson
    • Benjamin Franklin
    Show answer

    George Washington

  37. 37.How many strings does a standard concert pedal harp have?

    • 36
    • 47
    • 40
    • 52
    Show answer

    47

  38. 38.What is a word or phrase that reads the same backwards as forwards called?

    • An anagram
    • An acronym
    • A palindrome
    • A homophone
    Show answer

    A palindrome

  39. 39.Who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?

    • Raphael
    • Leonardo da Vinci
    • Michelangelo
    • Botticelli
    Show answer

    Michelangelo

  40. 40.What is 50 in Roman numerals?

    • C
    • L
    • D
    • X
    Show answer

    L

40 hard general knowledge quiz questions and answers: a free hard hard general knowledge round from QuizCast

How to run this round

Play this late, when scores are close and the room is warmed up. Read each question twice, slowly: hard rounds lose people when a question goes by too fast, not because it is too difficult. If a table is struggling badly, the four options are there to help: read them out.

Answer sheet for the host
  1. Potassium
  2. Q
  3. Uranus
  4. John Constable
  5. 1815
  6. 13
  7. Femur
  8. Mandarin Chinese
  9. Gabriel García Márquez
  10. Brasília
  11. 2
  12. The speed of light
  13. Vincent van Gogh
  14. The Wright brothers
  15. 12
  16. Beethoven
  17. A parliament
  18. Cambodia
  19. Hamlet
  20. O positive
  21. Charles Darwin
  22. The Milky Way
  23. Arthur Conan Doyle
  24. The rupee
  25. Poseidon
  26. Pompeii
  27. 8
  28. The Nile
  29. A Tale of Two Cities
  30. World Wide Web
  31. Alexander Graham Bell
  32. Barcelona
  33. Ag
  34. Saturn
  35. Ganymede
  36. George Washington
  37. 47
  38. A palindrome
  39. Michelangelo
  40. L

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