Physics Trivia Questions and Answers

Forces, energy, light and the units scientists measure them in: these physics trivia questions run from everyday ideas to the edge of quantum mechanics. Every answer includes a short, plain-English explanation, so you don't need a lab coat to learn something new.

7 questions · Every answer explained · Fact-checked October 2026

1. 1. Which force keeps your feet on the ground?

   • A. Magnetism
   • B. Friction
   • C. Gravity
   • D. Inertia
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   C. Gravity — Gravity is the attraction between masses; Earth's huge mass pulls everything on it toward its centre.

   Did you know? On the Moon, gravity is only about one-sixth as strong, so you'd weigh a sixth as much.

2. 2. What kind of energy does a moving object have?

   • A. Potential energy
   • B. Kinetic energy
   • C. Chemical energy
   • D. Nuclear energy
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   B. Kinetic energy — Kinetic energy is the energy of motion; the faster or heavier an object, the more it has.

   Did you know? Double an object's speed and its kinetic energy goes up fourfold.

3. 3. What is the SI unit of force?

   • A. Joule
   • B. Watt
   • C. Pascal
   • D. Newton
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   D. Newton — One newton is the force needed to accelerate a 1 kg mass by 1 metre per second squared.

   Did you know? A medium apple weighs roughly one newton — fitting, given the legend of Newton's apple.

4. 4. Roughly how fast does light travel in a vacuum?

   • A. 3,000 km/s
   • B. 30,000 km/s
   • C. 300,000 km/s
   • D. 3,000,000 km/s
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   C. 300,000 km/s — Light travels at 299,792 km per second in a vacuum — the universe's ultimate speed limit.

   Did you know? At that speed, light could circle Earth about seven and a half times in one second.

5. 5. Which physicist formulated the uncertainty principle in 1927?

   • A. Niels Bohr
   • B. Erwin Schrödinger
   • C. Max Planck
   • D. Werner Heisenberg
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   D. Werner Heisenberg — Heisenberg showed that a particle's position and momentum can't both be known precisely at the same time.

   Did you know? He won the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics for creating quantum mechanics.

6. 6. What is absolute zero on the Celsius scale?

   • A. −100 °C
   • B. −196 °C
   • C. −273.15 °C
   • D. −459.67 °C
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   C. −273.15 °C — Absolute zero, 0 kelvin, is −273.15 °C — the lowest temperature possible.

   Did you know? −459.67 is absolute zero too, but in Fahrenheit.

7. 7. What is the SI unit of electric charge?

   • A. Ampere
   • B. Volt
   • C. Coulomb
   • D. Ohm
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   C. Coulomb — One coulomb is the charge carried by a current of one ampere flowing for one second.

   Did you know? It's named after French physicist Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, who measured electric forces in the 1780s.