Common Knowledge Quiz: Everyday Facts Everyone Should Know

This common knowledge quiz checks the everyday facts most people learned at school, from leap years and the seven continents to blood types, guitar strings and what the World Wide Web really is. Ten questions, 90 seconds, answers explained.

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🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 90 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 90s

Calendar
How many days are in a leap year?
Geography
How many continents are taught in most English-speaking schools?
Science
At sea level, at what temperature does water boil in Fahrenheit?
Time
How many minutes are there in a full day?
Earth
In which direction does the Sun rise?
Music
How many strings does a standard guitar have?
Science
At what temperature does water freeze on the Celsius scale?
Health
Which blood type is known as the universal donor?
Technology
What does www stand for in a web address?
Health
How many teeth does a typical adult have, including wisdom teeth?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: How many days are in a leap year?
Answer: 366
A leap year has 366 days, with an extra day added on February 29. Leap years come roughly every four years to keep the calendar in step with Earth's orbit, which takes about 365.25 days.
Q2: How many continents are taught in most English-speaking schools?
Answer: Seven
Most English-speaking countries teach seven continents: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. Some countries count six, by joining the Americas or Europe and Asia.
Q3: At sea level, at what temperature does water boil in Fahrenheit?
Answer: 212 °F
At sea level, water boils at 212 °F, which is 100 °C. Higher up, the air pressure is lower, so water boils at a lower temperature and food takes longer to cook.
Q4: How many minutes are there in a full day?
Answer: 1,440
A day has 24 hours of 60 minutes each, which makes 1,440 minutes. That adds up to 86,400 seconds every day.
Q5: In which direction does the Sun rise?
Answer: East
Because Earth spins from west to east, the Sun appears to rise in the east and set in the west. It only rises exactly due east on the two equinoxes in March and September.
Q6: How many strings does a standard guitar have?
Answer: Six
A standard guitar has six strings, usually tuned E, A, D, G, B, E from lowest to highest. Most bass guitars have four strings, and some acoustic guitars have twelve.
Q7: At what temperature does water freeze on the Celsius scale?
Answer: 0 °C
Water freezes at 0 °C, or 32 °F, at normal air pressure. Salt lowers the freezing point, which is why it is spread on icy roads in winter.
Q8: Which blood type is known as the universal donor?
Answer: O negative
Red blood cells from O negative donors can be given to patients of almost any blood type, so it is called the universal donor type. It is especially valuable in emergencies, when there is no time to test a patient's blood.
Q9: What does www stand for in a web address?
Answer: World Wide Web
WWW stands for World Wide Web, the system of linked pages that British scientist Tim Berners-Lee proposed at CERN in 1989. The web runs on top of the internet, but the two are not the same thing.
Q10: How many teeth does a typical adult have, including wisdom teeth?
Answer: 32
Adults usually have 32 permanent teeth, including four wisdom teeth at the back. Many people have their wisdom teeth removed, so 28 is also a very common count.

Common Knowledge Quiz – The Facts We All Share

Common knowledge is the set of facts most people are expected to know without looking them up: how many days are in a year, which way the Sun rises, what temperature water boils at. These facts are taught early, used every day and rarely questioned, which is exactly why they are fun to test. Plenty of confident players stumble on something they last thought about in primary school.

The questions in this quiz come from the calendar, the kitchen, the doctor's office, music lessons and the internet. None of them needs specialist knowledge, but several have a twist in the explanation, such as why the Sun only rises exactly in the east twice a year, or why the web and the internet are not the same thing.

A good way to use this quiz is with a mixed group, such as grandparents, parents and children. Everyone learned these facts at some point, but people often remember them differently, and a few answers usually spark a debate. The explanations settle the argument and add a little more detail for next time.

What This Quiz Teaches

It is a good fit for families, classrooms and anyone who wants to check how much everyday knowledge they still remember.

Why leap years exist and how often they come
Why Earth's spin makes the Sun appear to move across the sky
How altitude changes the temperature at which water boils
Why O negative blood is so important in emergencies
How many continents there are, and why some countries count them differently
The difference between the internet and the World Wide Web

Quick Facts About Everyday Life

The average person blinks about 15 to 20 times a minute.
A standard deck of playing cards has 52 cards in four suits, plus jokers in most packs.
Earth is not a perfect sphere: it bulges slightly at the equator because of its spin.
Most smartphones today have more computing power than the computers that guided the Apollo Moon landings.
A regular U.S. dollar bill is made mostly of cotton and linen, not paper.
A single honeybee makes only about one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its whole life.
The human heart beats roughly 100,000 times a day.
Lightning is about five times hotter than the surface of the Sun.