Chemistry quiz questions with answers — 20 for your class.

Who it's for: Secondary chemistry classes, ages 13–16. It suits a first look at the periodic table or revision before a test.

Use them as a starter, an end-of-topic check, or revision before a chemistry test. Every question has one correct answer except question 5, which has two. All twenty fit in one Quizoma quiz.

The 20 chemistry quiz questions with answers

Correct answers are marked with a tick. The same questions, with the same answers, are in the CSV file, in the same order.

Elements & the periodic table

1. What is the chemical symbol for potassium?
   A. K ✓ · B. Po · C. P · D. Pt
2. Which element has the symbol Fe?
   A. Fluorine · B. Francium · C. Iron ✓ · D. Fermium
3. Which metal is a liquid at room temperature?
   A. Bromine · B. Gallium · C. Sodium · D. Mercury ✓
4. What are the elements in group 18 of the periodic table called?
   A. Halogens · B. Transition metals · C. Noble gases ✓ · D. Alkali metals
5. Which of these elements are halogens? (more than one answer)
   A. Argon · B. Chlorine ✓ · C. Sulfur · D. Iodine ✓

Atoms

6. Which particle in the nucleus has a positive charge?
   A. Photon · B. Proton ✓ · C. Electron · D. Neutron
7. What does the atomic number of an element tell you?
   A. The number of electron shells · B. The number of protons ✓ · C. The number of protons and neutrons · D. The number of neutrons
8. Carbon-12 and carbon-14 are examples of what?
   A. Ions · B. Alloys · C. Isotopes ✓ · D. Isomers
9. What is the largest number of electrons the first shell can hold?
   A. 18 · B. 2 ✓ · C. 6 · D. 8
10. Which particle has no electric charge?
    A. Proton · B. Electron · C. Ion · D. Neutron ✓

Compounds

11. What is the chemical formula of table salt?
    A. NaCl2 · B. Na2Cl · C. NaCl ✓ · D. KCl
12. How many atoms are there in one molecule of CO2?
    A. 1 · B. 2 · C. 3 ✓ · D. 4
13. What kind of bond forms when atoms share electrons?
    A. Covalent ✓ · B. Metallic · C. Ionic · D. Magnetic
14. What is the chemical formula of methane?
    A. CH4 ✓ · B. CO · C. C2H6 · D. CH3OH
15. Which of these is a mixture rather than a compound?
    A. Air ✓ · B. Sodium chloride · C. Carbon dioxide · D. Water

Reactions

16. Iron rusts when it reacts with water and which gas?
    A. Oxygen ✓ · B. Nitrogen · C. Helium · D. Hydrogen
17. What does an acid react with an alkali to make?
    A. Sugar · B. A salt and water ✓ · C. Only a gas · D. A metal and oxygen
18. Which gas relights a glowing splint?
    A. Carbon dioxide · B. Oxygen ✓ · C. Hydrogen · D. Nitrogen
19. What is a reaction that gives out heat called?
    A. Endothermic · B. Exothermic ✓ · C. Neutral · D. Reversible
20. Which pH value shows a strong acid?
    A. 7 · B. 1 ✓ · C. 14 · D. 9

Some wrong options are common slips, there on purpose. Bromine in question 3 is a liquid, but it is not a metal; the number of protons and neutrons in question 7 is the mass number; and water in question 15 is a compound, not a mixture. Quizoma's results show the accuracy of every question, so you will see straight away which idea needs another lesson.

Students can use the same set to revise on their own: import it, switch on Show Score and Retake, and it becomes a practice test they can take until every answer sticks.

How to use this template

1. Download the file: quizoma-template-chemistry-periodic-table-quiz.csv.
2. Open Quizoma Studio in your browser (or the Android app) and choose Import from file.
3. Pick the .csv. Quizoma shows every question for review before anything is saved, so you can fix a wording, drop a question or add your own.
4. Save, then share the 6-character quiz code or QR with your class. Participants answer at quizoma.com/take in any browser.

Timing and points are set on the quiz when you import, not in the file. If you would rather not import at all, you can type the questions into the online quiz maker directly.

What is in the file

One row per question: the question, then the options, then a final correct column holding the number of the right option. Where more than one option is right, the numbers are joined with a |. The first lines look like this:

question,option1,option2,option3,option4,correct
What is the chemical symbol for potassium?,K,Po,P,Pt,1
Which particle in the nucleus has a positive charge?,Photon,Proton,Electron,Neutron,2

Open it in any spreadsheet to edit, and save it as CSV again before importing — an .xlsx file is not read. The same format is described on the templates page.