Bacteria quiz

More questions about Bacteria

These visible examples show the question style. LearnClash turns the full topic into ranked duels and spaced repetition.

1. 1 Easy

   What illness can antibiotics cure?

   Answer: Strep throat

   Why: Antibiotics hit bacterial parts such as cell walls and ribosomes, which flu and cold viruses simply do not have.

2. 2 Medium

   Why can some bacteria survive boiling water?

   Answer: Endospores

   Why: Spores of the botulism bacterium outlast boiling, which is why low-acid foods are canned under pressure at about 116 °C or more.

3. 3 Hard

   How long did Ideonella sakaiensis take to nearly digest a PET film?

   Answer: About 6 weeks

   Why: Two enzymes, PETase and MHETase, split the plastic into its two building blocks, which the bacterium then feeds on.

4. 4 Easy

   How fast can bacteria get onto food dropped on the floor?

   Answer: Under 1 second

   Why: Moisture matters most: in the tests, wet watermelon picked up the most bacteria and gummy candy the least.

5. 5 Medium

   What part of a bacterium does penicillin attack?

   Answer: The cell wall

   Why: Without the cross-links penicillin blocks, a growing bacterium's wall weakens until water pressure bursts it, and human cells have no such wall.

6. 6 Hard

   Which bacterium is put into mosquitoes to stop them spreading dengue?

   Answer: Wolbachia

   Why: In a 2021 trial in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, releasing these mosquitoes cut dengue cases by 77%.