Fossil Fuel Quiz

Estimated Completion Time
1 min
Fossil Fuel Quiz
Image: Don Farrall/Getty Images

About This Quiz

They run our cars, generate our electricity, heat our homes, and mess with our climate. They're fossil fuels, and boy do we love 'em. Test your knowledge about these combustibles with this quiz.
What fossil fuel supplies more than half of the U.S.'s electricity?
natural gas
plutonium
coal
gasoline
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Coal, through the magic of coal-fired power plants.

Why are fossil fuels called "fossil fuels"?
They're made of dead stuff.
The dinosaurs used them to generate electricity.
They're old-fashioned, like a fossil.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Fossil fuels are made of dead stuff. They're what's left over hundreds of millions of years after a bunch of plants, animals, and other organisms died and decomposed and got squished up in the Earth's crust.

What does pure natural gas smell like?
roses
rotten eggs
your mom
nothing
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Natural gas has no smell. That nasty stink is added so you'll notice a leak before it explodes. Unless you have no sense of smell. In which case you're kind of out of luck.

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How do fossil fuels change the climate?
Burning fossil fuels creates heat, which warms the earth.
Removing fossil fuels from the Earth's crust throws off the balance between ground and air.
Burning fossil fuel releases carbon dioxide, which goes into the atmosphere and contributes to the greenhouse effect.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Burning anything -- coal, oil, gas, pianos, beets -- releases carbon dioxide, which goes into the atmosphere and warms the Earth, causing global warming and other kinds of climate change.

True or false: Carbon dioxide is the only problem created by burning fossil fuels.
true
false
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Ha! No. Don't forget about good, old-fashioned air pollution.

The Exxon Valdez spilled 10.8 million gallons of crude oil in Prince William Sound. Where did that oil come from?
Northern Alaska
The Aleutian Islands
Greenland
Chile
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

It came from the Prudhoe Bay oil field on Alaska's North Slope and traveled to Valdez in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline before being loaded onto the ship.

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Oil wells bring up crude oil, which is then refined into more useful products. Which of these is not made by refining crude oil?
gasoline
kerosene
natural gas
diesel
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Natural gas -- it comes out of the ground that way.

What are the top five oil-producing countries in the world?
Saudi Arabia, Russia, U.S., Iran, China
Saudi Arabia, U.S., Norway, China, Kuwait
Saudi Arabia, Russia, U.S., Nigeria, Brazil
Australia, Burkina Faso, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The top five oil-producing countries in the world are Saudi Arabia, Russia, U.S., Iran and China. More than a quarter of the U.S.'s oil comes from the Gulf of Mexico.

You Got:
/8
Don Farrall/Getty Images