40 Chemistry Trivia Questions for Kids

1. Which state of matter usually keeps its own shape when moved to a different container?

2. Water poured from a jug into a bowl changes shape. Which state of matter is it in?

3. Which state spreads out to fill all the available space inside a closed container?

4. A solid piece of wax becomes liquid when warmed. What is that change called?

5. What causes the gas inside an inflated balloon to push against its walls?

6. What usually happens to the average speed of molecules when a liquid is warmed?

7. In an ordinary solid, what do particles do around their fixed positions?

8. Why can a gas be squeezed into a much smaller volume more easily than a liquid?

9. What is a group of two or more bonded atoms with no overall electric charge called?

10. What do chemists call a pure substance made from just one kind of atom?

11. What is a pure substance made of two or more different elements chemically joined called?

12. Which particle inside an atom has a positive electric charge?

13. Which particle in an atom has no electric charge?

14. An element's atomic number tells you how many of which particles are in each atom?

15. An atom is electrically neutral. How do its proton and electron counts compare?

16. Two atoms have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons. What are they called?

17. The modern periodic table puts elements in increasing order of what number?

18. What is a vertical column of the periodic table called?

19. What is a horizontal row of the periodic table called?

20. Which symbol stands for helium on the periodic table?

21. Which chemical symbol stands for carbon?

22. Which element is shown by the symbol N?

23. Which two-letter symbol stands for calcium?

24. Which element has the symbol Ag?

25. You stir together dry sand and salt. What is the combination called?

26. Sugar dissolves evenly throughout water. What kind of mixture have you made?

27. In sugar water, what is the name for the water that does the dissolving?

28. In a saltwater solution, what is the dissolved salt called?

29. Which method can remove sand from water by trapping the sand in paper?

30. Oil and water settle into separate layers. What word means they do not mix into one uniform liquid?

31. A solution cannot dissolve any more of a certain solid at that temperature. What is it called?

32. Why does crushing a sugar cube into small grains usually help it dissolve faster in water?

33. Iron needs water and which gas from the air to form ordinary rust?

34. What makes a chemical change different from simply changing an object's shape?

35. What do chemists call the substances formed by a chemical reaction?

36. What does exothermic tell you about a chemical reaction?

37. At room temperature, a watery solution with a pH of 10 is described as what?

38. Which of these household liquids is acidic?

39. What does a chemical indicator often do to show whether a solution is acidic or basic?

40. What is the name for a reaction in which an acid and a base counteract each other?