Poison Trivia Quiz Questions and Answers

Poison Trivia Questions with the Answers

Poison Trivia Quiz Questions and Answers

What is poison?
A: Poisons are substances that cause disturbances in organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when an organism absorbs a sufficient quantity.

The word "poison" was first used in 1200 to mean what?
A: "A deadly potion or substance".

Using the word "poison" with plant names dates from when?
A: The 18th century.

The term "poison ivy", for example, was first used when?
A: 1784.

When was the term poison oak first used?
A: In 1743.

The term "poison gas" was first used in what year?
A: 1915.

The term "poison" is often used colloquially to describe what?
A: Any harmful substance.

Paracelsus (1493–1541), the father of toxicology, once wrote what?
A: "Everything is poison, there is poison in everything. Only the dose makes a thing not a poison".

The fields of medicine (particularly veterinary) and zoology often distinguish a poison from a what?
A: Toxin, and from a Venom.

Toxins are poisons produced by what?
A: Organisms in nature.

Venoms are toxins injected by what?
A: A bite or sting (this is exclusive to animals).

The difference between venom and other poisons is what?
A: The delivery method.

Most poisonous industrial compounds have associated material safety data sheets and are classed as what?
A: Hazardous substances.

Hazardous substances are subject to extensive what?
A: Regulation on production, procurement and use.

Due to the mechanics of molecular diffusion, many poisonous compounds do what?
A: Rapidly diffuse into biological tissues, air, water, or soil on a molecular scale.

By the principle of entropy, chemical contamination is typically costly or infeasible to what?
A: Reverse, unless specific chelating agents or micro-filtration processes are available.

Chelating agents are often broader in scope than the acute target, and therefore their ingestion requires what?
A: Careful medical or veterinarian supervision.

Pesticides, whose toxicity to various insects and other animals deemed to be pests is their what?
A: Prime purpose.

Bioaccumulation of chemically-prepared agricultural insecticides is a matter of concern for the many species, especially birds, which do what?
A: Consume insects as a primary food source.

Selective toxicity, controlled application, and controlled biodegradation are major challenges in what?
A: Herbicide and pesticide development and in chemical engineering generally.

All life forms on earth share what?
A: An underlying biochemistry.

Organisms exceptional in their environmental resilience are classified as what?
A: Extremophiles.

A poison which enters the food chain might not be immediately toxic to the what?
A: The first organism that ingests the toxin.

Fat soluble poisons tend to become stored in what?
A: Biological tissue rather than excreted in urine or other water-based effluents.

What are two common cases of acute natural poisoning?
A: Theobromine poisoning of dogs and cats, and mushroom poisoning in humans.

Dogs and cats are not natural herbivores, but a chemical defense developed by what organism can be incidentally fatal?
A: Theobroma cacao.

Many omnivores, including humans, readily consume what?
A: Edible fungi.

Many fungi have evolved to become what?
A: Decisively inedible.

Apart from food, many poisons readily enter the body through the what?
A: The skin and lungs.

Hydrofluoric acid is a notorious what?
A: Contact poison, in addition to its corrosive damage.

Naturally occurring sour gas is a notorious what?
A: Fast-acting atmospheric poison.

Plant-based contact irritants, such as that possessed by poison ivy or poison oak, are often classed as what?
A: Allergens rather than poisons.

Poison can also enter the body through what?
A: The teeth (in the controversial case of dental malpractice), faulty medical implants, or by injection.

How many cases of unintentional human poisonings occurred in 2013?
A: 3.3 million.

This resulted in how many deaths worldwide?
A: 98,000.

In modern society, cases of suspicious death elicit the attention of what?
A: The Coroner's office and forensic investigators.

Arsenic’s artificial concentrate was once nicknamed what?
A: Inheritance powder.

In Medieval Europe, it was common for monarchs to employ personal what?
A: Food tasters to thwart royal assassination.

Of increasing concern are what type of poisons?
A: Radiological.

. These poisons are associated with ionizing radiation, a mode of toxicity quite distinct from what?
A: Chemically active poisons.

In mammals, how are chemical poisons are often passed from mother to offspring?
A: Through the placenta during gestation, or through breast milk during nursing.

In contrast, radiological damage can be passed from mother or father to offspring through what process?
A: Genetic mutation which can then be passed along to a subsequent generation.

Atmospheric radon is a what?
A: A natural radiological poison.

The 2006 poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko was a novel use of what?
A: Radiological assassination.

Poisons that are widely dispersed into the environment are known as what?
A: Pollution.

Pollution can also include unwanted biological processes such as what?
A: Toxic red tide.

The scientific disciplines of ecology and environmental resource management study what?
A: The environmental life cycle of toxic compounds and their complex, diffuse, and highly interrelated effects.

Some poisons are also what?
A: Toxins, which is any poison produced by animals, vegetables or bacterium.

Animal poisons delivered subcutaneously (e.g., by sting or bite) are also called what?
A: Venom.

In normal usage, a poisonous organism is one that is harmful to what?
A: Consume, but venomous organisms use venom to kill their prey or for defense.