| Coverage : The Bacteria Quiz is designed to test your knowledge of the most abundant and successful life form that the Earth has ever known - bacteria. |
| 1. | How many bacterial cells are there in a typical milliliter of fresh water? |
| a. | | 10,000 |
| b. | | 100,000 |
| c. | | 1,000,000 |
| d. | | 10,000,000 |
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| 2. | Who was the Dutch scientist who, in 1676, became the first person to observe bacteria? |
| a. | | Isaac Beeckman |
| b. | | Bernard Tellegen |
| c. | | Cornelius de Pauw |
| d. | | Antonie van Leeuwenhoek |
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| 3. | The word ‘bacteria’ derives from the Greek for what? |
| a. | | Small staff |
| b. | | Dirt carrier |
| c. | | Unseen organism |
| d. | | Soil food |
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| 4. | Most bacteria can be classed as either cocci or bacilli. What shape are cocci bacteria? |
| a. | | Spherical |
| b. | | Rod-shaped |
| c. | | Tubular |
| d. | | Tetragonal |
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| 5. | True or false: body odor is caused by bacteria. |
| a. | | True |
| b. | | False |
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| 6. | Which powerful antibiotic that destroys bacteria was discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928? |
| a. | | Cefadroxil |
| b. | | Colistin |
| c. | | Isoniazid |
| d. | | Penicillin |
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| 7. | Which German naturalist coined the word ‘bacterium’? |
| a. | | Johann Friedrich von Brandt |
| b. | | Karl Hoffmann |
| c. | | Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg |
| d. | | Robert Koch |
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| 8. | What name is given to a dietary supplement that contains friendly bacteria such as Lactobacillus casei? |
| a. | | Probacterial |
| b. | | Antibacterial |
| c. | | Antibiotic |
| d. | | Probiotic |
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| 9. | The bacteria species Archaea lives in the hottest environments of any bacteria. What is the highest temperature at which Archea have been found to survive? |
| a. | | 76 C |
| b. | | 86 C |
| c. | | 96 C |
| d. | | 106 C |
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| 10. | Thiomargarita namibiensis, measuring 0.75 mm across, is the largest species of bacteria. It was discovered off the coast of which African country? |
| a. | | Mozambique |
| b. | | Namibia |
| c. | | Nigeria |
| d. | | Morocco |
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| 11. | If a person was to be drained of the water in his or her body, what percentage of that person’s remaining bodyweight would be bacteria? |
| a. | | 2% |
| b. | | 5% |
| c. | | 10% |
| d. | | 25% |
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| 12. | In reference to the black skin lesions that it can cause on a person’s skin, the bacteria anthrax takes its name from a Greek word meaning what? |
| a. | | Black |
| b. | | Coal |
| c. | | Shadow |
| d. | | Hole |
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