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50 free Temperature trivia questions with answers — science & nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This temperature trivia quiz measures everything from the everyday to the extreme. It covers the scales (Celsius's upside-down original, Fahrenheit's salt-and-ice zero, Réaumur's 80-degree boil, Rankine and kelvin), the world records at Death Valley and Vostok Station, the decertified Libyan reading, and what counts as normal, feverish and hypothermic in the human body. It also digs into how we measure heat at all: Galen's degrees, Santorio's scaled thermoscope, the brandy-filled sealed tube of 1629, the Florentine academy behind the Galileo thermometer, Six's max-min design, thermocouples and infrared sensors, and the 2019 switch to defining the kelvin by the Boltzmann constant. The final stretch visits negative temperatures, the 38-picokelvin record, lightning at 30,000 °C and the Planck limit. Early questions are approachable; later ones will test serious science fans. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries before publishing.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01At what Fahrenheit reading does water boil at sea level?
212 °F
On the same scale water freezes at 32 °F, a 180-degree span versus Celsius's 100.
Q 02The kelvin is one of how many SI base units?
Seven
The unit name is spelled with a lower-case k, and since 2019 it is defined through the Boltzmann constant.
Q 03By what exact offset do the Celsius and Kelvin scales differ?
273.15
A one-degree Celsius step equals a one-kelvin step; only the zero point moves.
Q 04What was the Celsius scale formerly called?
Centigrade
The name came from the 100-degree interval between water's freezing and boiling points.
Q 05What is the officially recognised highest air temperature ever recorded on Earth?
56.7 °C
Furnace Creek Ranch in Death Valley logged it on 10 July 1913; a higher 1922 Libyan reading was decertified in 2012.
Q 06In which country was a 1922 temperature record decertified after 90 years?
Libya
The 57.8 °C reading at ʽAziziya was thrown out in 2012, handing the record back to Death Valley.
Q 07Where was the lowest natural ground-level temperature on Earth recorded, in 1983?
Vostok Station, Antarctica
The then-Soviet base registered −89.2 °C on 21 July 1983.
Q 08What was the record low reading at Vostok Station in July 1983?
−89.2 °C
Satellites have since spotted ice surfaces near −98 °C, but those are not counted as official thermometer records.
Q 09Which Siberian settlement recorded −67.7 °C in February 1933?
Oymyakon
Soviet texts cited it as a record low through the 1940s, narrowly beating nearby Verkhoyansk.
Q 10The standard air-temperature measurement is taken at what height above ground?
1.5 metres
The thermometer must also be shielded from direct sunlight.
Q 11Who set the long-quoted 'normal' human body temperature of 37 °C in 1868?
Carl Wunderlich
His book put temperature charts into clinical use; newer studies put the average nearer 36.4 °C.
Q 1221st-century studies put the average internal human temperature at what value?
36.4 °C
Analyses published in 2017 and 2020 put it near 36.4 °C, below the 37 °C set by Wunderlich in 1868; body temperature also dips lowest about two hours before waking.
Q 13At what core temperature does hypothermia begin?
35 °C
Intense shivering, numbness and bluish skin mark the threshold.
Q 21What mixture originally defined 0 °F?
Salt and ice
Fahrenheit's upper fixed point was healthy body temperature, set at 96 so it divided by 12.
Q 22Fahrenheit set body temperature at 96 °F so the number would be divisible by what?
12
As body temperature varies, the scale was later changed to use a different upper fixed point.
Q 23In which year did Fahrenheit invent his reliable mercury thermometer?
1714
He proposed the scale that bears his name ten years later, in 1724.
Q 24Which ancient physician proposed measuring hotness and coldness in 'degrees'?
Q 14Hyperthermia at or above what temperature is a life-threatening emergency?
40 °C
Fever-reducing drugs are useless for it; cooling and rehydration are the treatment.
Q 15When during the day is human body temperature typically lowest?
About two hours before waking
The cycle is governed by the circadian rhythm.
Q 16Who proposed the absolute scale that uses Fahrenheit-sized degrees, in 1859?
William Rankine
One Rankine degree equals one Fahrenheit degree, and 0 °R is absolute zero.
Q 17On the Réaumur scale, at how many degrees does water boil?
80
The scale is also known as the 'octogesimal division' for that reason.
Q 18What liquid did Réaumur use in his original thermometers?
Diluted alcohol
He liked that it expands more visibly, but its low boiling point made the bulky instruments impractical.
Q 19Which direction did Anders Celsius originally run his scale?
Boiling at 0, freezing at 100
Jean-Pierre Christin proposed flipping it a year later and called the result centigrade.
Q 20Fahrenheit adapted his thermometer and scale from which Danish astronomer?
Ole Rømer
Fahrenheit's key change was switching the liquid to mercury.
Galen
His reference point was a mix of equal parts ice and boiling water, with four degrees of heat above and four of cold below.
Q 25Who published the first thermoscope drawing with a scale, in 1625?
Santorio Santorio
It was an air thermometer: a bulb of air atop a tube whose lower end opened into water.
Q 26Early air thermometers had what awkward flaw?
They were also barometers
Being sensitive to air pressure, they were unreliable until sealed liquid-in-glass designs appeared.
Q 27What liquid filled the first described sealed thermometer, in 1629?
Brandy
Joseph Solomon Delmedigo, a student of Galileo and Santorio in Padua, published the description.
Q 28Which Florentine academy actually invented the so-called Galileo thermometer?
Accademia del Cimento
Galileo's pupil Torricelli was among its members; an Italian nickname for the device was termometro lento, the slow thermometer.
Q 29Which London institution revived the Galileo thermometer as a product in the 1990s?
Natural History Museum
The floats in the modern version rise and fall as the liquid's density changes with temperature.
Q 30A maximum-minimum thermometer is also known by whose name?
Six
The original design uses mercury only as an indicator for a column of alcohol that does the measuring.