Inventions That Changed Everything

About Inventions That Changed Everything

Inventions That Changed Everything is a free nostalgia trivia quiz with 15 multiple-choice questions with a mix of 6 easy, 6 medium, 3 hard questions. Test your memory of the breakthroughs you watched arrive, from the first TV remote and microwave oven to Polaroid cameras and the transistor. A typical run takes about 7 minutes, hints are always one tap away, and your streak ticks up the first time you finish a game on a given day.

A few sample questions

1. 1. The microwave oven was invented accidentally when a scientist noticed radar waves had melted something in his pocket. What was it?

   Answer: A chocolate bar

   In 1945, Percy Spencer of Raytheon was working near an active radar set when he noticed a chocolate bar in his pocket had melted. This happy accident led directly to the development of the microwave oven.

2. 2. The first practical TV remote control, introduced by Zenith in 1956, was nicknamed 'Space Command.' What did it use to change channels?

   Answer: Ultrasonic sound waves

   The Zenith Space Command remote used ultrasonic sound — tiny aluminum rods inside the remote were struck like a xylophone, sending inaudible high-frequency tones to the TV set. It had no batteries and needed no wire.

3. 3. Edwin Land introduced the Polaroid instant camera to the public in 1948. How long did the original model take to produce a finished photograph?

   Answer: 60 seconds

   The first Polaroid Land Camera, Model 95, produced a sepia-toned print in about 60 seconds — a sensation at the time when most photos required days at a drugstore lab. The 60-second promise became the Polaroid brand's calling card.

4. 4. The ballpoint pen was patented in 1938 by Lazlo Biro. What was Biro's occupation before he invented it?

   Answer: Journalist

   Lazlo Biro was a Hungarian journalist who was frustrated by the way fountain pen ink smeared on newsprint. Watching fast-drying printer's ink gave him the idea for a pen with a tiny rotating ball at its tip.

5. 5. Velcro was invented in the early 1940s by Swiss engineer Georges de Mestral. What inspired him to create it?

   Answer: Burr seeds stuck to his dog's fur

   After a walk in the Alps in 1941, de Mestral examined under a microscope the burr seeds clinging to his dog's coat and his own trousers. He saw tiny hooks catching on loops of fabric — the exact principle he then engineered into Velcro.

Things you'll learn along the way

• ✓The Regency TR-1, released in October 1954, was the first mass-market transistor radio, built with transistors supplied by Texas Instruments. Sony came later with its TR-55 in 1955 but quickly dominated the market through the late 1950s.
• ✓The 1950 Zenith Lazy Bones was connected to the television by a long cable — simple but effective, though viewers kept tripping over the cord. That hazard pushed Zenith to develop a wireless solution, leading to the Space Command in 1956.
• ✓Although microwave ovens existed in commercial kitchens from the early 1950s, the countertop home models did not become widely affordable until the 1970s — especially after Amana's Radarange (1967) was followed by competing brands that drove prices down sharply.