Best Scientific Laws and Principles trivia quiz questions
Test your knowledge of the scientific laws and principles that govern our universe, from Newton's Laws to the Laws of Thermodynamics and more.
Which law describes the relationship between a body's mass, its acceleration, and the applied force?
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Newton's Second Law of Motion
What is the name of the principle that states when a wave encounters an obstacle or a slit, it bends around it?
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Diffraction
Which law states that the intensity of radiation emitted by a black body is proportional to the fourth power of its absolute temperature?
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Stefan-Boltzmann Law
What is Lenz's law?
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An induced electromotive force generates a current that induces a magnetic field that opposes the original magnetic field.
Which law states that the amount of gas that dissolves in a liquid is proportional to the partial pressure of the gas above the liquid?
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Henry's Law
What is the name of the principle that states that the pressure exerted by a fluid decreases as the speed of the fluid increases?
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Bernoulli's Principle
What is the third law of thermodynamics?
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As the temperature of a perfect crystal approaches absolute zero, its entropy approaches a minimum value.
What is the name of the principle that explains the lift generated by an airfoil?
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Bernoulli's Principle
Which law states that the total angular momentum of a system remains constant unless acted upon by an external torque?
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Conservation of Angular Momentum
What is Bernoulli's principle?
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As the speed of a fluid increases, the pressure within the fluid decreases.
Which law states that the rate of heat transfer through a material is proportional to the negative gradient in the temperature and the area?
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Fourier's Law
What is Archimedes' principle?
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The buoyant force on an object submerged in a fluid is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object.
What is the law of conservation of energy?
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Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed from one form to another.
What is the name of the principle that states that the electric potential difference between two points is the work done per unit charge against the electric field to move the charge between those points?
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Electric Potential
What is Coulomb's law?
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The force between two point charges is directly proportional to the product of their magnitudes and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
What principle states that the buoyant force on an object submerged in a fluid is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object?
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Archimedes' Principle
What is the law of electrolysis?
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The amount of substance produced at an electrode during electrolysis is directly proportional to the quantity of electricity passed through the electrolyte.
Which law states that the current passing through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the voltage across the two points?
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Ohm's Law
What is the law of multiple proportions?
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When two elements combine to form more than one compound, the mass ratios of the elements in the compounds are small whole-number multiples of each other.
What is the law of universal gravitation?
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Every particle in the universe attracts every other particle with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
What is the name of the principle that states that the total mechanical energy of an object in a conservative force field remains constant?
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Conservation of Mechanical Energy
What is Avogadro's law?
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Equal volumes of gases at the same temperature and pressure contain equal numbers of molecules.
What is the name of the principle that states that the pressure in a fluid at rest is the same at all points along the same horizontal plane?
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Pascal's Law
What is Hooke's law?
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The force required to extend or compress a spring is directly proportional to the distance the spring is extended or compressed.
What is the Stefan-Boltzmann law?
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The power radiated by a black body is proportional to the fourth power of its absolute temperature.
What is Kirchhoff's second law?
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The algebraic sum of voltages around any closed loop in a circuit is zero.
What is the name of the principle that states that the shortest distance between two points on a curved surface is a geodesic?
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Geodesic Principle
What is the name of the principle that states that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection?
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Law of Reflection
What is the law of reflection?
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The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.
What is the Doppler effect?
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The apparent change in frequency of a wave caused by relative motion between the source of the wave and the observer.
What is the law of partial pressures?
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In a mixture of gases, the total pressure is the sum of the partial pressures of the individual gases.
Which law states that the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is a constant for a given pair of media?
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Snell's Law
Which law states that the entropy of an isolated system can never decrease over time?
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Second Law of Thermodynamics
Which law states that the sum of the currents entering a junction is equal to the sum of the currents leaving the junction?
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Kirchhoff's Current Law
What is the name of the principle that states that the path taken between two points in a conservative force field is independent of the history of the particle?
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Hamilton's Principle
What is the law of definite proportions?
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The composition of a compound is always the same, regardless of how it was made or where it is found.
What is the name of the principle that states that the change in internal energy of a closed system is equal to the heat added to the system minus the work done by the system?
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First Law of Thermodynamics
What is the name of the principle that states that the velocity of a fluid flowing through a constriction will increase while its static pressure will decrease?
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Venturi Effect
Which law states that the volume of a given mass of gas at constant temperature is inversely proportional to the pressure?
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Boyle's Law
Which law states that the rate of diffusion of a gas is inversely proportional to the square root of its molar mass?
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Graham's Law
What is Boyle's law?
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The volume of a gas at constant temperature varies inversely with the pressure exerted on it.
What is Coulomb's law of friction?
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The force of friction between two surfaces is proportional to the normal force pressing the surfaces together and is independent of the area of contact.
What is the scientific principle that states 'for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction'?
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Newton's Third Law of Motion
What is Kirchhoff's first law?
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The algebraic sum of currents entering and leaving a node (or junction) in a circuit is zero.
What is the name of the principle that states that the total linear momentum of a closed system remains constant?
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Conservation of Linear Momentum
What is Pascal's principle?
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A change in pressure applied to an enclosed fluid is transmitted undiminished to every part of the fluid and to the walls of the container.
What is Ohm's law?
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The current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the voltage across the two points.
What is Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction?
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A changing magnetic field induces an electromotive force (EMF) in a circuit.
What is the law of mass action?
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The rate of a chemical reaction is proportional to the product of the concentrations of the reactants raised to their stoichiometric coefficients.
What is the photoelectric effect?
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The emission of electrons from a metal surface when light shines on it.
What is Snell's law?
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The ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is a constant for a given pair of media.
Which law states that the amount of substance dissolved in a solvent at equilibrium is directly proportional to the partial pressure of the solute above the solution?
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Henry's Law
Which law states that the total mass of a closed system remains constant?
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Conservation of Mass
What is the name of the scientific law stating that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted from one form to another?
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Conservation of Energy
What is Newton's first law of motion?
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An object at rest will remain at rest, and an object in motion will remain in motion with a constant velocity, unless acted upon by a net external force.
What is the ideal gas law?
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PV = nRT, where P is pressure, V is volume, n is the number of moles of gas, R is the gas constant, and T is temperature.
What is the name of the principle that states that the total energy in a closed system remains constant?
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First Law of Thermodynamics
What is the second law of thermodynamics?
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The total entropy of an isolated system can never decrease over time; entropy can increase due to irreversible processes such as heat transfer and chemical reactions.
What is the first law of thermodynamics?
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The total energy of an isolated system is constant; energy can be transformed from one form to another, but cannot be created or destroyed.
Which law states that the total pressure exerted by a mixture of gases is equal to the sum of the partial pressures of the individual gases?
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Dalton's Law
Which law states that the force between two point charges is directly proportional to the product of their charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them?