Organic Chemistry quiz

More questions about Organic Chemistry

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

1. 1 Easy

   Which organic solvent removes nail polish?

   Answer: Acetone

   Why: Acetone dissolves nail polish quickly because it mixes well with both polar and non-polar molecules.

2. 2 Medium

   What gives old books their distinct sweet smell as they age?

   Answer: vanillin

   Why: Cheap wood pulp paper keeps its lignin, and as that slowly breaks down it gives off vanillin, the molecule that scents real vanilla pods.

3. 3 Hard

   Which drug's mirror-image version caused birth defects in the 1950s?

   Answer: thalidomide

   Why: Sold from 1957 as the sedative Contergan, it was withdrawn in November 1961 after harming more than 10,000 babies worldwide.

4. 4 Easy

   What simple organic acid do ants inject when they bite or sting?

   Answer: formic acid

   Why: The naturalist John Ray first obtained it in 1671 by distilling large numbers of dead ants; wood ants spray it from the tip of the abdomen.

5. 5 Medium

   Why do many organic molecules containing sulfur smell like rotten eggs?

   Answer: They contain thiols

   Why: The nose catches ethanethiol at about 0.36 parts per billion of air, which is why thiols are added to bottled gas as a warning smell.

6. 6 Hard

   What was the first purely synthetic plastic ever produced?

   Answer: Bakelite

   Why: Leo Baekeland cooked phenol and formaldehyde together in 1907 and sold the result as the material of a thousand uses.