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Overview

The National Science and Maths Quiz is an annual science and mathematics based national level quiz competition for senior high schools in Ghana.
It has been produced by Primetime Limited, an advertising and public relations agency with an interest in education, since 1993.

Quiz Structure

Round One

Each contesting school receives 4 Biology, 4 Chemistry, 4 Physics and 4 Mathematics questions, totaling 16 to answer.

Round Two

The Speed Race Questions are thrown to the contesting school and the first to answer gets full three (3) points.

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Round Three

Problem of the day! The contestants are required to solve a single questions within 3 minutes. This question is worth 10 points.

Round Four

True or False statements are given to the contestants in turns. The goal is to determine whether each statement is True or False.

Round Five

Clues are given to the contesting schools. The schools are to compete against each other to find the answers to the riddles.

Past Quizzes

Fundamental Concept

  1. What is the linear momentum of a 5 kg object moving at 4 m s-1 due east?
  2. A moving object has a linear momentum of magnitude 50 N s. What force is applied parallel to the direction of motion of the object can stop it in 5 s?
  3. At what speed will the magnitude of linear momentum of a moving 2 kg object be 80 N s ?
  4. Explain why the first ionization energy of beryllium, atomic number 4, is higher than the first ionization energy of lithium atomic number 3.
  5. Explain why the first ionization energy of magnesium, atomic number 12, is higher than that of aluminium, atomic number 13.
  6. Name one of the cells/tissues that exhibit ciliary movements in the human body.
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Speed Race

  1. A very wide cistern contains water to a depth of 5 m. find the speed with which water exits a narrow pipe at the bottom of the cistern.
  2. Two very large parallel plates 2 cm apart are maintained at a potential difference of 10 V. Find the magnitude of the electric field between them.
  3. Which of the following is not a distance unit: astronomical unit, arc second, parsec, light year, steradian?
  4. In which part of the stomach of ruminants are digestive juices secreted?
  5. Which type of insect is responsible for the transmission of the groundnut rosette virus?
  6. Which blood cells are involved in the immune response of vertebrates?
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Problem of the Day

The diagram below represents a simplified water cycle. Use it to answer the following questions.

  • Provide labels for a, b and c.
  • Give three points on the diagram at which humans are likely to interfere with the life cycle.
  • For each of the points listed above, state one human activity that interferes with the cycle.
Water Cycle
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True/False

  1. The average kinetic energy of the molecules an ideal gas at 200°C is twice the average speed at 100°C.
  2. Blood gains pressure as it moves from the heart to the capillaries of the lungs.
  3. The domain of a sequence is the set of natural numbers.
  4. The common difference of the linear sequence 9, 6, 3, 0, . . . is 3.
  5. The sequence 1, 4, 9, 16, . . . is an exponential sequence.
  6. For standing waves on a vibrating string, the distance between a node and an adjacent antinode equals half the wavelength of the wave.
  7. The power factor for an alternating current circuit that contains only resistors is unity.
  8. An ideal inductor in an alternating current circuit dissipates the same power as a resistor whose resistance equals the reactance of the inductor.
  9. The power factor for an ideal capacitor is zero.
  10. Some triangles have two obtuse angles.
  11. A rhombus is a parallelogram.
  12. Enzymes can catalyse only specific reactions.
  13. Actinomorphic flowers are bilaterally symmetrical.
  14. An equilateral quadrilateral is equiangular.
  15. Two lines that are parallel to a third line must be parallel to each other.
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Riddles

I am a principle.

That describes the behaviour of fluids

I am responsible for operation of hydraulic machines.

Who am I?

I have different types

I may be considered natural, whole, positive or negative

I am the basic building blocks of Mathematics.

I am often considered reasonable or rational as well as crazy or irrational.

I may be terminating or repeating.

You can locate me on a line bearing my name.

Who am I?

Apart from a point or a segment, I am the simplex geometrical figure.

I am an open figure

I may be acute, obtuse or reflex

I am the union of two rays with a common vertex. I am measured in degrees and radians

I may be a point of view or a way of looking at a problem

Who am I?

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