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Quiz about Light My Fire
Quiz about Light My Fire

Light My Fire! Trivia Quiz


An illuminating history of matches.

A multiple-choice quiz by Rimrunner. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
Rimrunner
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
335,700
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
6 / 10
Plays
1418
Awards
Top 35% Quiz
Last 3 plays: xchasbox (6/10), DIAK (3/10), Asaint1949 (5/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. It's not as easy as you might think, rubbing two sticks together to light a fire. So, about 500 years before they invented fireworks, these people invented matches. When, where and what for? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Why on earth would you want a 'slow match'? What would you light with it? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. You're not going to believe this. A French scientist named K. Chancel invented the first 'modern' (i.e. self-igniting) match in 1805.
In what ludicrously impractical way did one light one of his matches?
Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. John Walker, an English chemist, invented the first true modern match in 1826.
His matches were lit using friction, but ignited rather violently. It was Samuel Jones, however, who registered the patent and marketed the matches - under what stellar trade name?
Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. The problem with the first friction matches was that they smelt terrible. To fix this, white phosphorus was added to the chemical mix, which did fix the stink. But why was this not really such a good idea? What appalling consequence resulted? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. In Sweden, the first safety match was invented in 1844, and improved and developed for commercial production by 1847. What was the primary basis of the safety mechanism in this match? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. Most people would not consider modern safety matches to be explosive. However, in one episode (117) of the TV programme, 'Mythbusters', a package of match heads was used to fire a 2.75 kg bowling ball nearly 500m uphill. How many match heads were needed to do this? (It's fewer than you would think!) Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. You have become engrossed in one of your grandmother's books, a murder mystery published in 1950 and entitled, "The Book She Couldn't Read". At a critical moment, the detective-heroine (or hero, if you prefer) finds a clue! Of the following, what was that clue most likely to be? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. A matchbox has one match left in it. How should you classify its potential for harm? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. What do you call someone who collects matchbooks, matchboxes or matchbox covers? Hint



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quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. It's not as easy as you might think, rubbing two sticks together to light a fire. So, about 500 years before they invented fireworks, these people invented matches. When, where and what for?

Answer: 577 AD, in China, to cook food

In a Chinese city under siege, tinder to start cooking fires could no longer be found. Driven by the complaints of unhappy women, an inventor came up with the idea of impregnating resinous pine splinters with sulphur. About four hundred years later, they were being commercially produced. Technically, these were predecessors to self-igniting modern matches, but they served the same purpose, and they were much easier to light than ordinary tinder. Fireworks were also invented in China, in the 12th century.
2. Why on earth would you want a 'slow match'? What would you light with it?

Answer: A gunpowder cannon fuse

A slow match was normally a length of cord which had been impregnated with incendiary chemicals to keep it burning slowly, so that it could be held ready for relatively long periods of time. The most common use was to fire cannon or to set off fireworks.

The rate of burn would be comparable to that of a cigarette left in an ashtray. This sort of match remained in use for centuries, especially at sea, for as long as gunpowder cannon remained the main naval armament.
3. You're not going to believe this. A French scientist named K. Chancel invented the first 'modern' (i.e. self-igniting) match in 1805. In what ludicrously impractical way did one light one of his matches?

Answer: By dipping the head into a jar of sulphuric acid

Chancel's match operated on a mixture of potassium chlorate, sulphur, sugar and rubber. However, for reasons we can easily understand, they never caught on. (Care to carry a little jar of sulphuric acid in your pocket? And look out for the splashing acid when you light a match!)
4. John Walker, an English chemist, invented the first true modern match in 1826. His matches were lit using friction, but ignited rather violently. It was Samuel Jones, however, who registered the patent and marketed the matches - under what stellar trade name?

Answer: Lucifer matches

Matches were referred to as 'lucifers' for some time after that, and in some places they are still called that. The origin of the name 'lucifer' means 'light-bearer'. A misinterpretation of Isaiah 14:12 in the Bible gave rise to an erroneous but persistent belief that 'Lucifer' was a name for Satan, (and in fact Milton used 'Lucifer' in this way in 'Paradise Lost').

In fact, 'Lucifer' is or was a name for the 'Day Star' or dawn star, Venus.
5. The problem with the first friction matches was that they smelt terrible. To fix this, white phosphorus was added to the chemical mix, which did fix the stink. But why was this not really such a good idea? What appalling consequence resulted?

Answer: Phosphorus vapour caused the occupational disease 'Phossy jaw'

'Phossy jaw', properly called 'phosphorus necrosis of the jaw' is a really nasty occupational disease which is caused by exposure to white phosphorus vapour. Effects include an abscessed jaw with rotting bone which glows in the dark, extreme pain, a foul discharge, and severe brain damage. If the affected bone is not surgically removed, the person will usually die of multiple organ failure (especially the liver, heart and kidneys) due to phosphorus poisoning.

The use of white phosphorus in matches was gradually outlawed, beginning in Scandinavia in the 1870s, but a worldwide ban was only accomplished fifty years later, in 1925.
6. In Sweden, the first safety match was invented in 1844, and improved and developed for commercial production by 1847. What was the primary basis of the safety mechanism in this match?

Answer: Separation of the reactive chemicals between match head and striking surface

The inventor was Gustaf Pasch, and the commercial entrepreneurs were the Lundström brothers Johan and Carl. The key ingredients are potassium chlorate (in the match head) and red phosphorus (in the striking surface); the two react explosively but in very small quantity when united in the striking action, and then set off the other ingredients in the match head. Red phosphorus is much less dangerous than white phosphorus. By 1860 the Lundströms were producing over ten million match boxes per year from their factory in Jönköping. Swedish matches dominated the world market for nearly fifty years.
7. Most people would not consider modern safety matches to be explosive. However, in one episode (117) of the TV programme, 'Mythbusters', a package of match heads was used to fire a 2.75 kg bowling ball nearly 500m uphill. How many match heads were needed to do this? (It's fewer than you would think!)

Answer: 60 000

Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage had planned to knock over a set of skittles, but the bowling ball blew by far above their target. There's a good reason the airlines (and airports) classify matches as dangerous goods, and most passenger jets won't transport them at all.
8. You have become engrossed in one of your grandmother's books, a murder mystery published in 1950 and entitled, "The Book She Couldn't Read". At a critical moment, the detective-heroine (or hero, if you prefer) finds a clue! Of the following, what was that clue most likely to be?

Answer: a used matchbook

Matchbooks (folders holding stiffened paper matches, or matches made of thin, pressed wood) began to come into use around the beginning of the twentieth century, becoming common in the 1940s and 1950s. Murder mystery and detective stories of this era were particularly fond of adopting the matchbook as a directing clue for the hero (or heroine).

They were usually decorated with a logo or other advertisement promoting the bar, hotel, restaurant or club where they were given out. Yes, the clue *could* have been any of the other items mentioned, but in this era the matchbook was so likely as to have become a cliche.
9. A matchbox has one match left in it. How should you classify its potential for harm?

Answer: Possible weapon of mass destruction

Under the right conditions, a single lit match can be considered a weapon of mass destruction. Allow me to illustrate:
(1) The Buckweed fire in California, which is known to have been started by a child playing with matches: 150 square km burned, 63 structures destroyed, 4 injured.
(2) The London King's Cross fire, which a court found to have been most likely started by a dropped match: 31 killed, damage unknown.
(3) An Australian wildfire in 2009, in which a man was charged with arson and manslaughter: 4000 square km burned, many hundreds of homes destroyed, more than 180 lives lost.
There have been many other fires, even more destructive, where the cause might well have been a single match. High winds, dry weather and high temperatures are the contributory conditions.
10. What do you call someone who collects matchbooks, matchboxes or matchbox covers?

Answer: Phillumenist

'Phillumenist' means a 'lover of light'. The word was coined in the 1940s, but no one knows by whom. One might also describe Hans Christian Andersen's 'Little Match Girl' as a phillumenist, but in a rather more profound way.
A lepidopterist is a butterfly collector, and a lucifologist is something I made up, although it might mean someone who studies matches. Many serious collectors are rather obsessive by nature, which might result in their being single, but I don't think that being a phillumenist necessarily means that one is single!
Source: Author Rimrunner

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor gtho4 before going online.
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