50 Amazing Science Trivia Facts for Trivia Night

Science trivia covers the vast range of human knowledge from quantum physics to evolutionary biology. These 50 facts are vetted for accuracy and calibrated for trivia night use: surprising enough to impress, true enough to trust.

Physics and Astronomy Facts

• Light takes approximately 8 minutes and 20 seconds to travel from the Sun to Earth.
• A neutron star can spin up to 700 times per second.
• The observable universe is estimated to contain 2 trillion galaxies.
• Sound cannot travel through the vacuum of space because it requires a medium to propagate.
• Lightning strikes Earth approximately 100 times per second globally.
• The temperature at the center of the Sun is approximately 15 million degrees Celsius.
• Saturn would float in water because its average density is lower than water's.
• A day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus (Venus rotates slower than it orbits the Sun).

Biology and Chemistry Facts

• The human body contains approximately 37 trillion cells.
• DNA in a single human cell, if stretched out, would be approximately 2 meters long.
• Honey never spoils. Archaeologists have found 3,000-year-old honey in Egyptian tombs that was still edible.
• A group of flamingos is called a flamboyance.
• Sharks are older than trees. Sharks have existed for approximately 450 million years; trees only about 350 million.
• The mantis shrimp can see 16 types of color receptors versus humans' three.
• Bananas are radioactive because they contain potassium-40.
• Octopuses have three hearts and blue blood.