Make haste, poky person! Take this quiz to test your knowledge of the speediest stuff in the universe.
Which animal can move faster than a car on a freeway?
peregrine falcon
sailfish
cheetah
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer
While sailfish and cheetahs can hover around 60 mph (98 kph), at least for a few seconds, it's the falcon you can't shake from your tail. The bird of prey can swoop at 200 mph (320 kph).
Which of the following animals takes silver in the amazing speed category?
arctic hare
pronghorn antelope
greyhound
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer
That would be the slender pronghorn, which can bound over its habitat at 53 mph (85 kph). That said, arctic hares and greyhounds are incredibly swift, and if you pitted, say, a slower pronghorn against a faster greyhound, you could see an upset.
Planet candidate KOI-1843.03 may have the shortest (unconfirmed) orbit astronomers have come across. How many episodes of "Game of Thrones" can you watch in a year there, assuming an episode length of 55 minutes?
less than half an episode
about 4.5
about 16
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer
With an orbit of roughly 4.25 hours, you could get through a little more than 4.5 episodes before ringing in the new year. (And don't even think about how many years it would take George R.R. Martin to finish a book.)
What is the one and only record set for "fastest toilet"?
14 mph (23 kph)
30 mph (48 kph)
Competition is fierce; more than one quick crapper has been recorded.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer
Trick question. There have been two records set for fastest toilet. The current fastest, according to Guinness World Records, is a motorized toilet that traveled 55 mph (89 kph).
What speedy feat left one British woman so surprised that she didn't have time to take off her pants, as is usually customary for the activity?
fastest bath
fastest swimsuit flash mob
fastest birth
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer
Katherine Allen was surprised to discover that her baby was born the moment her water broke -- leaving the healthy infant to slide down the leg of her sweatpants.
If you're trying to qualify as the Guinness World Records holder for fastest production car, what qualification do you NOT have to meet?
Your car must have headlights.
Your car must be playing "Highway to Hell" on the stereo.
More than 30 cars of that type must be produced.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer
To qualify as a production car, Guinness requires at least 30 cars to be made, and they have to have certain features, but you can ostensibly listen to whatever you want while attempting the record.
The fastest object in the universe just might be a star cluster that was shot out from a distant galaxy. Should we be concerned that it's going to hit us at a rate of 638 miles (1,026 kilometers) per second?
I don't see why we wouldn't be.
Only if it doesn't burn up in our atmosphere.
probably not
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer
Although none of us want an object coming toward us at 638 miles per second, don't worry too much. The cluster's trajectory is very unlikely for it to come near Earth, and it'll probably end up in a group of galaxies far, far away.
How rapidly do scientists think the universe went from a subatomic particle to something the size of a marble at the beginning of the big bang?
four days
so fast that no one would have time to take off their pants
less than a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer
As evidence of ripples in the universe has been discovered, scientists think that in less than a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second, the universe inflated enormously. B is also kind of right too, though.
