100 true or false questions with answers and explanations
True or false questions with answers in seven categories, each answer explained in one line. Science, history, geography, animals, food, space and the human body, with plenty of famous myths.
True or false trivia is the easiest format to run: no buzzers, no writing, and everyone answers every question. The best statements sound right either way, so we leaned on myths people half believe, which also makes these good fact or fiction questions. Every answer is a settled fact, with a short explanation you can read out after the reveal.
Science true or false questions
Physics, chemistry and a few myths that refuse to die.
1. Water boils at 100°C (212°F) at sea level.
True. At standard sea-level air pressure. Higher up, it boils at a lower temperature.
2. Sound travels faster through water than through air.
True. Roughly four times faster, because water is far harder to compress than air.
3. Lightning never strikes the same place twice.
False. Tall structures get hit again and again. The Empire State Building is struck many times a year.
4. Diamonds are made of carbon.
True. A diamond is carbon atoms locked in a rigid crystal. Pencil graphite is carbon too.
5. Glass is a slow-flowing liquid, which is why old windows are thicker at the bottom.
False. Glass is an amorphous solid. Old panes are uneven because of how they were made.
6. Water expands when it freezes.
True. That's why ice floats and why frozen pipes can burst.
7. The chemical symbol for gold is Au.
True. It comes from aurum, the Latin word for gold.
8. The chemical symbol for iron is Ir.
False. Iron is Fe, from the Latin ferrum. Ir is iridium.
9. Pure water is an excellent conductor of electricity.
False. Pure water conducts poorly. The dissolved minerals in everyday water carry the current.
10. Helium is lighter than air.
True. It's less dense than the nitrogen and oxygen around it, so helium balloons float.
11. Absolute zero is 0 on the Kelvin scale.
True. That's about minus 273.15°C, or minus 459.67°F.
12. A car's rubber tires are what protect you from lightning.
False. The metal body carries the current around you to the ground. The tires have nothing to do with it.
13. Earth's atmosphere is mostly oxygen.
False. It's about 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen.
14. A penny dropped from the top of the Empire State Building could kill someone below.
False. A penny is light and flat, so air resistance keeps it slow. It would sting, not kill.
15. Atoms are mostly empty space.
True. The nucleus is tiny compared with the space its electrons occupy.
History true or false questions
Famous dates and the myths that grew up around famous people.
16. Napoleon Bonaparte was unusually short.
False. He was about 5 feet 7 inches, roughly average for a Frenchman of his time.
17. Viking warriors wore horned helmets into battle.
False. No horned Viking battle helmet has been found. The look comes from 19th-century art and opera costumes.
18. The Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776.
True. Congress voted for independence on July 2 and adopted the final text on July 4.
19. Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the Moon.
True. He stepped onto the surface in July 1969, during the Apollo 11 mission.
20. Cleopatra lived closer in time to the Moon landing than to the building of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
True. She died in 30 BC, about 2,500 years after the Great Pyramid was built and about 2,000 years before Apollo 11.
21. The Titanic sank on its first voyage.
True. It hit an iceberg in April 1912, four days into its maiden voyage.
22. The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World's Fair in Paris.
True. It was the entrance arch to the Exposition Universelle.
23. The Berlin Wall fell in 1989.
True. The border crossings opened on November 9, 1989.
24. Albert Einstein failed math in school.
False. He excelled at math and had taught himself calculus by about age 15.
25. The Statue of Liberty was a gift from France.
True. It was a gift from the people of France, dedicated in New York Harbor in 1886.
26. Most educated people in medieval Europe believed the Earth was flat.
False. Scholars had known the Earth was round since ancient Greece, and medieval textbooks said so.
27. The ancient Olympic Games were held at Olympia, in Greece.
True. The Games took their name from the site, in the western Peloponnese.
28. George Washington had wooden teeth.
False. His dentures were made of ivory, metal, and human and animal teeth, but no wood.
29. Johannes Gutenberg built his printing press in the 1400s.
True. His movable-type press was printing in Mainz, Germany, by around 1450.
30. World War I began in 1914.
True. It began in July 1914 and ended with the armistice in November 1918.
Geography true or false questions
Capitals, deserts and maps that aren't quite what they seem.
31. Australia is both a country and a continent.
True. It's the only country that is also commonly counted as a continent.
32. The Sahara is the largest desert in the world.
False. Antarctica is the largest desert. The Sahara is the largest hot desert.
33. Mount Everest is the highest mountain above sea level.
True. Its summit is about 29,000 feet above sea level.
34. The Amazon River flows into the Pacific Ocean.
False. It flows east across South America into the Atlantic.
35. Canada has more lakes than any other country.
True. Estimates put more than half of the world's lakes in Canada.
36. Russia is the largest country in the world by area.
True. It covers more than 6.5 million square miles across Europe and Asia.
37. Sydney is the capital of Australia.
False. The capital is Canberra, built partly as a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne.
38. Istanbul is the capital of Turkey.
False. The capital is Ankara. Istanbul is the largest city.
39. Africa has more countries than any other continent.
True. It has 54 countries that are members of the United Nations.
40. The Dead Sea is so salty that people float in it easily.
True. Its water is almost ten times saltier than the ocean.
41. Greenland is bigger than Africa.
False. Africa is about 14 times larger. Common world maps stretch areas near the poles.
42. Alaska is the largest US state by area.
True. It's more than twice the size of Texas.
43. The Pacific is the largest ocean on Earth.
True. It covers more area than all of Earth's land put together.
44. Mount Kilimanjaro is in Kenya.
False. It's in Tanzania, near the border with Kenya.
45. The equator passes through Brazil.
True. It crosses the north of the country, near the mouth of the Amazon.
Animal true or false questions
The animal kingdom has more myths than any other category. Most of these surprise someone.
46. Bats are blind.
False. All bats can see. Many also use echolocation to hunt in the dark.
47. Goldfish have a three-second memory.
False. Experiments show goldfish can remember things for months.
48. A group of crows is called a murder.
True. It's one of the old English names for animal groups, like a pride of lions.
49. Ostriches bury their heads in the sand when they're scared.
False. They lower their heads to turn the eggs in their ground nests, which can look like hiding.
50. An octopus has three hearts.
True. Two pump blood through the gills and one pumps it to the rest of the body.
51. Bulls are enraged by the color red.
False. Bulls can't tell red from green well. It's the movement of the cape that provokes them.
52. Dolphins are mammals.
True. They breathe air, give birth to live young and feed them milk.
53. Koalas are bears.
False. They're marsupials, which carry their young in a pouch.
54. A shark is a fish.
True. Sharks are fish with skeletons made of cartilage instead of bone.
55. Camels store water in their humps.
False. The humps store fat, which the camel can use for energy.
56. Spiders are insects.
False. Spiders are arachnids. They have eight legs; insects have six.
57. Hummingbirds can fly backward.
True. Their wings move in a way that lets them hover in place and fly in reverse.
58. Porcupines can shoot their quills.
False. The quills come loose when something touches them, but a porcupine can't launch them.
59. The blue whale is the largest animal known to have ever lived.
True. Adults can grow close to 100 feet long and weigh more than any known dinosaur.
60. Dogs see only in black and white.
False. Dogs see color, mainly blues and yellows, but they can't tell reds from greens the way we do.
Food true or false questions
Botany, kitchen science and where a few famous dishes got their names.
61. Peanuts are nuts.
False. Botanically, peanuts are legumes, in the same family as peas and beans.
62. Properly stored honey can stay edible for decades.
True. Its low moisture and natural acidity make it very hard for bacteria to grow.
63. Botanically, a tomato is a fruit.
True. It grows from the plant's flower and holds the seeds, which makes it a fruit.
64. White chocolate contains cocoa solids.
False. It's made from cocoa butter, sugar and milk, without the cocoa solids that make chocolate brown.
65. Botanically, a banana is a berry and a strawberry is not.
True. A strawberry's flesh grows from the base of the flower, not its ovary, and its seeds sit on the outside.
66. Carrots have always been orange.
False. Early cultivated carrots were mostly purple or yellow. Orange ones became common in Europe in the 1600s.
67. Searing meat seals in its juices.
False. Searing adds flavor and color, but seared meat loses about as much moisture as unseared meat.
68. Pound cake is named after its original recipe.
True. Early recipes called for a pound each of flour, butter, eggs and sugar.
69. Caesar salad is named after Julius Caesar.
False. It's usually credited to Caesar Cardini, a restaurant owner in Tijuana, in the 1920s.
70. Each cashew grows hanging from the bottom of a fruit called a cashew apple.
True. The nut grows in a shell below the fruit, one nut per cashew apple.
Space true or false questions
Planets, moons and a famous claim about a wall.
71. You can see the Great Wall of China from the Moon with the naked eye.
False. It's far too narrow. Even from low Earth orbit it's very hard to spot without help.
72. Venus takes longer to spin once on its axis than to orbit the Sun.
True. One spin takes about 243 Earth days; one trip around the Sun takes about 225.
73. The Sun is a star.
True. It's the closest star to Earth.
74. Sunlight takes about eight minutes to reach Earth.
True. Light covers the roughly 93 million miles in about 8 minutes and 20 seconds.
75. Mars has two moons.
True. They're called Phobos and Deimos.
76. The Moon makes its own light.
False. Moonlight is sunlight reflected off the Moon's surface.
77. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system.
True. More than 1,300 Earths could fit inside it.
78. Earth has seasons because it's closer to the Sun in summer.
False. Seasons come from the tilt of Earth's axis. Earth is actually closest to the Sun in early January.
79. One side of the Moon is always dark.
False. The far side gets as much sunlight as the near side. We just never see it from Earth.
80. Mercury is the hottest planet because it's closest to the Sun.
False. Venus is hotter. Its thick carbon dioxide atmosphere traps heat.
81. Saturn is the only planet with rings.
False. Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune have rings too. Saturn's are just the brightest.
82. Sound can't travel through the vacuum of space.
True. Sound needs something to move through, like air or water.
83. Pluto is classified as a dwarf planet.
True. The International Astronomical Union reclassified it in 2006.
84. The Moon is slowly drifting away from Earth.
True. It moves about 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) farther away each year.
85. About a million Earths could fit inside the Sun.
True. By volume, the Sun could hold roughly 1.3 million Earths.
Human body true or false questions
Bones, brains and the health myths you heard growing up.
86. Humans use only 10% of their brains.
False. Brain scans show activity across the whole brain, just not all at once.
87. An adult human skeleton usually has 206 bones.
True. The exact count can vary slightly from person to person.
88. Babies are born with more bones than adults have.
True. A newborn has roughly 270 to 300 bones, and many fuse together with age.
89. Hair and nails keep growing after death.
False. The skin dries and pulls back after death, which makes them look longer.
90. Cracking your knuckles causes arthritis.
False. Studies have found no link between knuckle cracking and arthritis.
91. Different parts of the tongue taste different flavors, like sweet at the tip.
False. Taste buds all over the tongue can detect every basic taste.
92. Blood is blue inside your body until it touches air.
False. Blood is always red. Veins look blue because of how light passes through skin.
93. The skin is the largest organ of the human body.
True. An adult's skin covers about 20 square feet.
94. The femur, or thigh bone, is the longest bone in the body.
True. It's also one of the strongest.
95. The smallest bone in the human body is in the ear.
True. The stapes, in the middle ear, is about the size of a grain of rice.
96. Fingernails grow faster than toenails.
True. Fingernails grow about twice as fast.
97. You lose most of your body heat through your head.
False. Your head loses heat at about the same rate as any other uncovered part of the body.
98. Humans and giraffes have the same number of neck bones.
True. Both have seven. A giraffe's are just much longer.
99. Reading in dim light permanently damages your eyes.
False. It can tire your eyes, but it doesn't cause lasting damage.
100. Tooth enamel is the hardest substance in the human body.
True. It's even harder than bone.
How to play true or false with a team
Works for a five-minute meeting opener or a full round at trivia night, in a room or on a call.
- Pick 10 statements per round. One category per round, or a mix. Aim for roughly half true and half false so nobody can guess the pattern.
- Vote with your body. In a room, stand up for true and stay seated for false. On a video call, thumbs up or thumbs down on camera, or a reaction.
- Reveal, then explain. Say the answer, then read the one-line explanation. The explanation is where the “wait, really?” moments happen.
- Score in teams or play elimination. Teams get a point per right answer. Or play elimination: wrong answers sit out until one person is left standing.
Want questions with written answers instead? Try our Trivial Pursuit-style questions or sports trivia questions, and see how to host a trivia night for a full run of show. For a game show feel, load a round onto our free Jeopardy-style board.
Need a different kind of question? Try our yes or no questions, two truths and a lie ideas and this or that questions.
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