Quizmo

Quiz on Plastic

20 questions · June 29, 2026

Below is the full Quizmo quiz devoted to the theme "Plastic": each question, its four options, the correct answer highlighted and, where available, its source. A chance to brush up on your general knowledge and then test what you know.

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Question 1

Easy

The plastic recycling symbol is formed by arrows in what shape?

Source: Those chasing arrows form a triangle, designed by a 23-year-old student in 1970.

Question 2

Easy

Most plastic is manufactured from which natural resource?

Source: Roughly 99% of plastic starts as fossil fuels like oil and gas.

Question 3

Easy

Which 1967 film famously gives the one-word career tip 'Plastics'?

Source: In The Graduate, a guest tells young Benjamin the future is just 'plastics'.

Question 4

Easy

What is the world's largest mass of floating ocean plastic called?

Source: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch spans an area roughly three times the size of France.

Question 5

Easy

How long can a plastic bottle take to break down in a landfill?

Source: A single bottle can linger about 450 years before fully breaking apart.

Question 6

Easy

Microplastics are defined as plastic fragments smaller than what?

Source: Anything under 5 mm, about a pencil-eraser, counts as a microplastic.

Question 7

Easy

Bubble wrap was originally invented to be used as what?

Source: Its inventors first marketed bubble wrap as 3D wallpaper back in 1957.

Question 8

Easy

Plastic belongs to which broad class of materials?

Source: Plastics are polymers: long repeating chains of linked molecules.

Question 9

Easy

Plastic bottles and polyester clothing are both made from which plastic?

Source: PET makes both your water bottle and your polyester shirt.

Question 10

Easy

About how many plastic bottles are bought worldwide every minute?

Source: Shoppers buy more than a million plastic bottles a minute globally.

Question 11

Medium

Resin code 6, marked 'PS', refers to which plastic?

Source: PS is polystyrene, the stuff of foam cups and packaging trays.

Question 12

Medium

Teflon, the non-stick pan coating, is actually a type of what?

Source: Teflon is PTFE, a slippery plastic discovered by accident in 1938.

Question 13

Medium

Plastic production exploded worldwide during which decade?

Source: Post-war 1950s consumer culture launched the great plastics boom.

Question 14

Medium

Tiny 'nurdles' often polluting beaches are actually what?

Source: Nurdles are raw plastic pellets later melted down to mold products.

Question 15

Medium

Which biodegradable bioplastic is commonly made from corn?

Source: PLA, made from corn starch, composts far faster than oil-based plastics.

Question 16

Medium

Roughly what share of all plastic ever made has been recycled?

Source: Only about 9% of all plastic ever produced has actually been recycled.

Question 17

Medium

Most modern chewing gum's chewy base is typically made from what?

Source: Modern gum bases are synthetic plastic, not the old natural chicle sap.

Question 18

Hard

Which inventor created Bakelite, the first fully synthetic plastic?

Source: Leo Baekeland's 1907 Bakelite was the first plastic from fully synthetic molecules.

Question 19

Hard

Which restricted additive made bottles hard and clear but mimicked hormones?

Source: BPA can act like estrogen, which is why 'BPA-free' labels are everywhere.

Question 20

Hard

Which type of plastic, unlike most, can be remelted and reshaped repeatedly?

Source: Thermoplastics soften when reheated; thermosets stay locked in shape forever.

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