Fact or Fiction

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Fact/Fiction

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Test your science knowledge with our fact or fiction quiz.

We measure the strength of the wind using the Beaumont Scale It's False - it's actually the BeauFORT scale that's used to measure the strength of the wind.	The very centre of the earth is liquid and has a temperature of around 500 degrees Celsius It's False - The earth's inner core is solid and is a whopping 4800 degrees Celsius, and is surrounded by the outer core of molten iron that generates the earth's magnetic field.
Mosquitos flap their wings about 600 times a second It's True – this produces the irritating whining noise you can hear when you are trying to get to sleep at night and a hungry mosquito has got into your room.	Kangaroos can bounce along at 60 miles per hour It's False - the best they can do is 40 miles per hour.
3 cubed is 27 It's True - 3x3x3=27	Penicillin - the antibiotic - is produced by bacteria which normally live in the soil It's False - Penicillin is produced by the penicillium mould which makes penicillin to help it fend off attacks by bacteria.
The biggest flower in the world grows up to one metre across? It's True . The giant flower called Rafflesia lives is rainforests and smells of rotting meat!	A healthy human breathes about 6 litres of air a minute It's True – The average person takes 12 breaths, each containing about half a litre of air, every minute.
Things look blue underwater because of the colour of the sky It's False Things look blue because water soaks up light at the red end of the spectrum whilst allowing blue light to pass through unaffected. So the deeper you go the more blue everything looks.	Historically, ink was usually made from elm trees It's False - Inks were made by extracting the tannin from oak apples (growths on oak trees caused by a parasitic wasp) and mixing it with iron sulphate (which is acidic). When the mixture comes into contact with air it oxidises to a dark brown black.

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