How Much Do You Really Know About the World?

By: Jonnathan Chadwick
Estimated Completion Time
3 min
How Much Do You Really Know About the World?
Image: skynesher / E+ / Getty Images

About This Quiz

Humans have roamed Earth for millennia but we've only explored a small percentage of the planet. We've been to the moon, which is about 238,000 miles away, but we've only been eight miles into Earth. We have 3,950 more miles to go to get the center of the planet and we're nowhere close.  We've never been to the mantle and it makes up a majority of Earth's volume. 

Other than inner Earth, which is 99.99% unexplored, we haven't explored much of the surface either. More than 70% of Earth is covered by water, but in 2000, only 1% of the ocean floor had been mapped. As of 2019, anywhere between 5% and 20% of the ocean floor had been mapped in any detail. We haven't been to the deepest depths of the Amazon or the Taiga, so we haven't even explored all of Earth's land, which makes up less than 30% of the planet.

At the most aggressively liberal estimates, we've explored 50% of the entire planet, but even with that being said, we know a lot about the third rock from the Sun. We know the largest ocean and the tallest mountain. We know the oldest religions and the newest cities. And we know we're spinning really, really fast. What do you know about Earth?

Amazon forest
by Kim Schandorff / Moment / Getty Images
Can you name the South American rain forest home to 390 billion trees?
Taiga
Congo
Amazon
Everglades
Earth
Photographer is my life. / Moment / Getty Images
What is the planet Earth named after?
Greek god
Egyptian god
The ground
Roman god
Pacific Ocean
Patchareeporn Sakoolchai / Moment / Getty Images
The planet is covered in water. What's the largest ocean in the world?
Atlantic Ocean
Arctic Ocean
Pacific Ocean
Indian Ocean

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Earth layers
fpm / E+ / Getty Images
It's 3,958 miles to the center of the planet. How many layers is Earth made of?
Two
Four
Six
Eight
Earth shape
Photographer is my life. / Moment / Getty Images
What shape is Earth?
Square
Flat
Spheroid
Rectangle
Vatican City
Nico De Pasquale Photography / DigitalVision / Getty Images
There are 7.5 billion people in the world. Do you know the least populous country?
Monaco
Vatican City
Singapore
Jamaica

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Equator
Don Carstens / Stockbyte / Getty Images
What imaginary line splits the Earth in half horizontally?
Tropic of Capricorn
Tropic of Cancer
Prime Meridian
Equator
London
Gary Yeowell / DigitalVision / Getty Images
Do you know the capital of England?
Edinburgh
Dublin
Glasgow
London
Languages
mrPliskin / E+ / Getty Images
The planet is full of thousands of languages. What's the most spoken language in the world?
English
Spanish
Chinese
Arabic

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Earth first photo
NASA/Apollo 17 crew; taken by either Harrison Schmitt or Ron Evans via WikiCommons
When was the first time we photographed the entire planet?
1946
1972
1969
1950
Earth and Atmosphere
anilyanik / DigitalVision Vectors / Getty Images
Can you name the most abundant element in the atmosphere?
Nitrogen
Oxygen
Helium
Hydrogen
Mount Everest
Luca Galuzzi via WikiCommons
What's the highest mountain in the world?
K2
Mount Kilimanjaro
Mount Everest
Manaslu

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Solar system
Steve Allen / DigitalVision / Getty Images
Earth isn't the only planet in our solar system. What position is it from the Sun?
First
Second
Third
Fourth
China
@ Didier Marti / Moment / Getty Images
Just seven countries make up half the world's population. Do you know the most populous country in the world?
India
China
Brazil
Indonesia
Oxygen
Yasuhide Fumoto / DigitalVision / Getty Images
What's the most abundant element on Earth?
Oxygen
Hydrogen
Nitrogen
Silicon

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Tokyo
Matteo Colombo / DigitalVision / Getty Images
What's the capital of Japan?
Beijing
Tokyo
Bangkok
Seoul
Earth rotation
Photographer is my life. / Moment / Getty Images
The world is constantly in motion. How long does it take Earth to complete a full rotation on its axis?
30 days
24 hours
7 days
365 days
Antarctica
Kelly Cheng / Moment / Getty Images
Just 30% of Earth is land. Do you know the largest desert in the world?
Sahara Desert
Arabian Desert
Antarctica
Gobi Desert

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Hemispheres
Sompong Rattanakunchon / Moment / Getty Images
In what hemisphere is the Tropic of Cancer?
Northern
Southern
Nile River
zhouyousifang / Moment / Getty Images
There are 165 major rivers on Earth. Which one is the longest?
Mekong River
Congo River
Mississippi River
Nile River
Earth's inner-core
Leonello Calvetti/Stocktrek Images / Stocktrek Images / Getty Images
There are 118 elements on Earth. What's Earth's inner core made of?
Copper and tin
Gold and silver
Platinum and diamond
Nickel and iron

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Moscow
Max Ryazanov / Moment / Getty Images
What's the capital of Russia?
Samara
Omsk
Saint Petersburg
Moscow
Continents
PATSTOCK / Moment / Getty Images
Australia is the smallest continent in the world. Do you know the biggest continent in the world?
North America
Asia
Africa
South America
Christianity
krisanapong detraphiphat / Moment / Getty Images
There are thousands of religions in the world. Which religion has the most members?
Christianity
Hinduism
Judaism
Islam

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Cumulus
Whitworth Images / Moment / Getty Images
Clouds are made of water, ice and gas. How much does a cumulus cloud weigh?
1,000 pounds
1 million pounds
10,000 pounds
100,000 pounds
Earth and hands
qbanczyk / E+ / Getty Images
How old is Earth?
4.54 million years old
4.54 billion years old
1.54 million years old
1.54 billion years old
Lake Baikal
Peerasit Chockmaneenuch / Moment / Getty Images
There are more than 117 million lakes on the planet, but which lake is the deepest?
Crater Lake
Lake Baikal
Lake Superior
Lake Victoria

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Earth and moon
photovideostock / E+ / Getty Images
Earth orbits the Sun and the moon orbits Earth. How long does it take for the moon to orbit Earth?
30.2 days
6.7 days
364.8 days
27.3 days
Canberra
Posnov / Moment / Getty Images
What's the capital of Australia?
Sydney
Canberra
Melbourne
Perth
Atmosphere-layers
khalus / DigitalVision Vectors / Getty Images
Which of the following is not a layer of the atmosphere?
Thermosphere
Stratosphere
Mantle
Troposphere

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Earth and sun
Image Source / Image Source / Getty Images
The planet can't survive if it stops moving. How long does it take for Earth to orbit the sun?
30 days
365 days
7 days
24 hours
Mariana Trench underwater
Ken Eckert via WikiCommons
Can you name the deepest spot on Earth?
Litke Deep
Romanche Trench
Mariana Trench
Mponeng Mine
Greenland
Arctic-Images / DigitalVision / Getty Images
What's the biggest island in the world?
Greenland
Indonesia
Great Britain
Madagascar

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Globe spinning
Francesco Carta fotografo / Moment / Getty Images
Earth spins like a basketball on a fingertip. At the equator, how fast does the Earth spin?
250 miles per hour
500 miles per hour
1,000 miles per hour
2,000 miles per hour
Washington DC
Prasit photo / Moment / Getty Images
What's the capital of the United States of America?
Washington, D.C.
New York City
Philadelphia
Los Angeles