Question 10: the correct answer is Myth. Got it right? Score 1 point.
Your round
Add up the points from the 10 answers.
Many myths seem true at first glance. Reread the explanations and try again another day.
You separated much of the facts from the myths. The claims that seem absurd are the ones that trip people up most.
You have a good eye for facts. Only the trickiest details slipped past you.
Almost everything right. It's worth reading the myths list to discover even more.
Just for fun. The bands describe how this round went, not you.
Why, for question 10: Water always boils at 100 °C, anywhere.
It's a myth. Water boils at 100 °C at sea level. At high altitudes, where air pressure is lower, it boils earlier: in La Paz, Bolivia, at about 3,600 meters above sea level, water boils near 88 °C.
Pressure and the boiling point
Water boils when the vapor forming inside it can overcome the air pressure above it. With less air pressing down, this happens at a lower temperature.
At the top of Everest, water boils at about 70 °C. That's why cooking at high altitudes takes longer: the water bubbles, but doesn't get as hot.
A pressure cooker does the opposite. It traps the steam, raises the pressure inside, and lets the water go above 100 °C, which cooks beans and meats faster.
Salt in water also changes the boiling point, but only slightly: the amount used in cooking raises the temperature by less than 1 degree.
What this quiz covered
Five claims were true: the tomato as a fruit, sound travelling faster in water, the Moon's fixed face, honey that never spoils, and the Eiffel Tower growing in summer. Several sound strange, but have simple explanations.
Five were myths: the peanut as a nut, the dog that sees only black and white, gum that stays in the stomach for years, carrots giving night vision, and water always boiling at 100 °C. In almost all of them, there is a true part that was exaggerated.
Anyone who wants to go further will find more myths explained in the list of myths everyone keeps repeating.
Where this information comes from: botany and physics textbooks; NASA (Moon); Eiffel Tower, official site (expansion and painting); pediatric associations (honey and babies).
