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Engineering is a field of study and practice that involves the application of scientific and mathematical principles to design and construct products, processes, and systems that solve real-world problems. From the construction of towering skyscrapers and bridges to the development of sophisticated computer systems and medical devices, engineers have been instrumental in shaping the world we live in today.
Engineering trivia questions are a fun and educational way to test your knowledge of this exciting and diverse field. Whether you are an engineer, an engineering student, or simply someone who loves to learn about technology and innovation, these questions will challenge you and help you to deepen your understanding of the world of engineering.
Here are some examples of engineering trivia questions: What is the world's longest suspension bridge? Who developed the first programmable computer? What is the name of the process used to produce metal parts by shaping a block of metal with a cutting tool? What is the equation used to calculate the power of a machine? What is the name of the engineer who designed the Eiffel Tower? These questions and others like them will help you to understand the complex and fascinating world of engineering and the role that engineers play in shaping our modern world.
1. Chris Stapleton originally traveled to what Tennessee city to pursue an engineering degree from Vanderbilt University? Instead, he and his beard found fame as a singer and songwriter.
Answer: Nashville
2. What “A” term refers to the rate at which velocity changes over time, and the direction in which that change is acting? In terms of cars, it is used to refer to the act of increasing speed.
Answer: Acceleration
3. Situated on the banks of the Red Sea, the 436-ft structure known as "Jeddah Light" is often cited as the tallest of what type of structure, despite the fact its primary purpose is as an observation tower?
Answer: Lighthouse
4. What structure notorious for its 3.97 degree tilt is the freestanding bell tower of a cathedral in its namesake Italian town? The structure's tilt comes from the soft ground of its unstable foundation.
Answer: Leaning Tower of Pisa
5. What physical measurement is technically defined as force divided by the area over which that force is being applied? Queen and David Bowie performed a song about being under it.
Answer: Pressure
6. What “A” word defines the scientific study of sound, used to determine the efficiency of engineering projects? It is a word also used to describe a non-electric guitar.
Answer: Acoustics
7. Better known as the maker of Galaxy smartphones, what Korean conglomerate was also the main contractor that built Dubai's Burj Khalifa?
Answer: Samsung
8. For what ill-fated ship was the chemical property of ductile-to-brittle transition at the below-freezing water temperatures unfortunate and likely a contributor to its first and final voyage?
Answer: Titanic
9. Taken straight from Wikipedia, "naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions in the atmosphere or ground temporarily equalize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of as much as one billion joules of energy" is the definition of what natural phenomenon?
Answer: Lightning
10. Email, SMS, voice, and spear are four different types of what eight-letter, social engineering-driven scam where users are tricked into revealing sensitive data to hackers through fake messages or websites that appear to be sent by a real company or person?
Answer: Phishing
11. According to a group of Purdue engineering students, the answer is actually 252 licks! But what type of pop started advertising in 1969 that the world may never know how many it takes to get to the eponymous center of one of its confectioneries?
Answer: Tootsie
12. What “A” word is a watercourse engineered to carry water from a source to a distribution point? Used today to describe pipes, canals, and tunnels, it was most famously used in Ancient Rome, construction that stands to this day.
Answer: Aqueduct
13. The largest power station in the U.S. (measured by installed capacity) is a concrete gravity dam in Washington, built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation water. What is the name of this dam that was first constructed in the 1930s?
Answer: Grand Coulee Dam
14. In electrical engineering, which zen-sounding measurement of electrical resistance can be determined using the following equation: 1O = 1 V/A? (Hint: It was actually named for the German physicist who invented it, no word on whether he was also a yogi.)
Answer: Ohm
15. Engineer Sherman Poppen is often credited as the inventor of the “Snurfer," which was later renamed what popularly-used winter sports equipment?
Answer: Snowboard
16. Barbie’s spacious garage is cluttered with circuit boards, servo controllers, and actuators from her job working the robotics arm of what applied science that puts the “E” in STEM or STEAM?
Answer: Engineering
17. A major potential in efforts to engineer environmental sustainability are attempts to breed bacteria that can eat what polymer-based materials that are difficult to recycle?
Answer: Plastic
18. Eric Yuan is a former Cisco engineer and executive that left the telecom giant to found what speedy meeting company in 2011? The company released its first version of their eponymous software two years later and had a "breakout year" in 2020.
Answer: Zoom
19. In civil engineering, Abrams’ law describes the strength of which type of building material that is composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together?
Answer: Concrete
20. Topping accelerating speeds of 128 mph, engineers at Intamin Amusement Rides designed the 456-foot Kingda Ka, which opened as the world’s tallest and fastest rollercoaster at what numerically-named “Great Adventure” amusement park in New Jersey in 2005?
Answer: Six Flags
21. France’s Millau Viaduct is a modern engineering marvel. Higher than the Eiffel Tower, it’s got the record as the world’s tallest of what crossing structure?
Answer: Bridge
22. What 72 story skyscraper on London Bridge St., designed by Renzo Piano, shares its name with a broken piece of glass with sharp edges?
Answer: The Shard
23. Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin invented the revolutionary V-type three-point version of what safety object in 1959?
Answer: Seatbelt
24. In education, the acronym STEM stands for "science, technology, engineering, and mathematics." When an A is added to form the acronym STEAM, what does the A stand for?
Answer: Arts
25. Alright nuclear engineering nerds, it’s your time to shine. What’s it called when two light atomic nuclei combine to form one heavy nucleus? The other process—splitting a heavy one into two lighter ones—is called fission.
Answer: Fusion
26. What is the moment of an 8 Newton force acting on a lever at a perpendicular distance of 5 meters?
Answer: 40 Nm
27. What California structure designed in 1917 has an official color of "international orange?
Answer: Golden Gate Bridge
28. Homer Simpson may not have had a degree in it, but which atomic subfield of engineering would be helpful for someone working at a power plant?
Answer: Nuclear
29. In a 2012 speech, Barack Obama compared Boulder City's Copper Mountain Solar Facility to what ginormous hydroelectric piece of infrastructure straddling the Arizona-Nevada border?
Answer: Hoover Dam
30. Describing how an object changes in size when the temperature changes, the abbreviation CTE stands for "coefficient of thermal" what?
Answer: Expansion
31. Which “hot” discipline of the physical sciences would be key for engineers who work with things like cooling systems, jet engines, and steam power?
Answer: Thermodynamics
32. What device, an example of ancient engineering, uses stored potential energy to fling a projectile great distances without any propellant? It is sometimes referred to as a trebuchet.
Answer: Catapult
33. What simple machine is a triangle-shaped tool, and is a portable inclined plane? It shares its name with a golf club, used for accurate short distance lobs.
Answer: Wedge
34. The equation T = F x d x sin(?) will give you which “moment of force” measure that makes an object rotate?
Answer: Torque
35. Sometimes called the Millennium Wheel, what paid tourist attraction in London with a biological name is a cantilevered observation wheel that allows people to see the city from high in the sky?
Answer: London Eye
36. Solar energy inventor and pioneer Frank Shuman wrote the following in the New York Times in what decade? "We have proved ... that after our stores of oil and coal are exhausted the human race can receive unlimited power from the rays of the Sun.
Answer: 1910s
37. What term beginning with F means to machine a flat surface, as in the end of a shaft in the lathe?
Answer: Face
38. Through what process does electrical energy get transformed into mechanical energy by a motor?
Answer: Electromagnetic Induction
39. Often associated with mattresses and desk chairs, what is the term for the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and construction of products? The goal is typically to reduce human error and enhance safety and comfort.
Answer: Ergonomics
40. The $600 million Zoji La tunnels project will connect the rest of India to its very militarized Himalayan border with what other superpower?
Answer: China
41. What is the generic term for building material that is used to buffer a structure against unwanted inclement temperature, acoustics, fire, or impact?
Answer: Insulation
42. Mark Watney, an environmental engineer stranded on the Red Planet, is the title character of what 2011 Andy Weir novel and its film adaptation?
Answer: The Martian
43. Yun Hao Feng, the first woman to graduate with a Ph.D. in engineering in the United States, obtained her degree from what midwestern Buckeye-brimming university?
Answer: Ohio State University
44. Often known as "Woz" for short, what electronics engineer co-founded Apple with Steve Jobs, and also competed on Season 8 of "Dancing With the Stars"?
Answer: Steve Wozniak
45. Because it's "nature's engineer," a beaver named Tim serves as the mascot for the sports teams at what East Coast private research university?
Answer: MIT
46. Teddy Roosevelt became the first sitting U.S. president to make an international visit in 1906, when he traveled about 4,000 miles south to inspect what engineering project-slash-awesome shortcut?
Answer: Panama Canal
47. What president of China, in office since 2013, studied chemical engineering in college before rising through the ranks of regional politics? He portrayed himself as a heroic figure, standing strong against Western influences on behalf of the Chinese people.
Answer: Xi Jinping
48. What is a branch of civil and environmental engineering beginning with S that deals with issues affecting public health, such as safe drinking water and sewage disposal?
Answer: Sanitary Engineering
49. Claiming speeds of over 300 mph, what automaker’s Venom F5® Roadster may well be the fastest car in the world as of 2023?
Answer: Hennessey
50. The falling counterweight has to be way heavier than the payload to achieve max speed with what slinging siege weapon whose name might be an old French word for "topple"?
Answer: Trebuchet
51. When viewing the composition of petroleum by weight, what chemical makes up the majority?
Answer: Carbon
52. A civil engineer should know the difference between a bridge (which goes over a gap) and what other structure that goes over multiple gaps, and not just those created by water?
Answer: Viaduct
53. China Energy Engineering Corp. has proposed a 1,000-megawatt floating solar plant to be constructed on the Kariba Dam in what country in southern Africa whose capital is Harare?
Answer: Zimbabwe
54. In 1975 an engineer created the first electronic camera while working for what company?
Answer: Kodak
55. Located near Nimes, France, the Pont du Gard is a very well-preserved example of what Roman engineering feat? Another example of this particular engineering is located in Segovia, Spain.
Answer: Aqueduct
56. Howard P. Grant was the first Black graduate of Berkeley Engineering, the first Black engineer for the City and County of San Francisco, and the first known Black member of what professional organization, the oldest of its type in the U.S.?
Answer: American Society of Civil Engineers
57. Snore! What Elon Musk-founded tunneling firm raised $118 million in venture capital funding in April 2018?
Answer: The Boring Company
58. Which American “hypercar” maker based in Texas “makes fast cars faster” with mods like Venom and Exorcist?
Answer: Hennessey
59. "Liber Abaci," or "Book of the Abacus" introduced Euro audiences to the golden ratio-like sequence of what Italian math dude?
Answer: Fibonacci
60. What New Orleans structure failed in August 2005, leading to claims of "the worst engineering disaster in the world since Chernobyl?
Answer: Levees
61. What European explorer has a bridge named after him that connects Staten Island to Brooklyn?
Answer: Verrazano Bridge
62. Represented using the previous letter in the alphabet in most other fields, the letter "j" is used to represent the square root of what number in electrical engineering?
Answer: -1
63. At a towering 406 feet, Nagarjuna Sagar Dam is the world’s tallest masonry dam built in 1969 in what heavily-populated Asian country?
Answer: India
64. The last letter of the Greek alphabet represents what unit of electrical resistance?
Answer: Ohm
65. At the center of Mecca's Masjid al-Haram mosque sits the big black Kaaba, a structure whose Arabic name translates to what Platonic solid it's shaped like?
Answer: Cube
66. What simple machine is a beam or rigid rod with a fixed hinge, also known as a fulcrum? It’s also the name of a body wash with a blue label.
Answer: Lever
67. Described by Muammar Gaddafi as "the Eighth Wonder of the World," the Great Man-Made River delivers 6.5 million cubic meters of water daily to Tripoli, Benghazi, and other cities in what northern African country?
Answer: Libya
68. Which subfield of engineering that is a type of civil engineering would include working on foundations for buildings, mining, and off-shore construction?
Answer: Geotechnical
69. Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel was a 19th century inventor and mechanical engineer, most famous for the invention of his namesake engine. He's also well-known for a suspicious death at sea. Although born in France, Diesel was what nationality?
Answer: German
70. What term beginning with C is for the minute lines appearing in or near the surface of materials such as plastics, usually resulting as a response to environment?
Answer: Crazing
71. A showcase of the city's recovery from the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco's Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915 was to celebrate the opening of what engineering marvel?
Answer: The Panama Canal
72. What “S” 17th century English inventor designed the first commercially used steam powered device, a steam pump sometimes called an engine?
Answer: Thomas Savery
73. What Hawaiian sugar company built a ditch to send water to its sugar fields in 1907, an engineering marvel that stands to this day?
Answer: Kekaha
74. The resistance of stainless steel to rusting is due to the presence of which element with atomic number 24?
Answer: Chromium
75. After he made history as the first man to walk on the moon, what astronaut served as a Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati from 1971 to 1979?
Answer: Neil Armstrong
76. What was the name of the English aviation engineer and pilot who has been credited with the invention of the jet engine?
Answer: Frank Whittle
77. What’s another name for civil engineering that's especially fitting since it often involves the construction of “weighty” infrastructure like airports and bridges?
Answer: Heavy
78. In what country would you find the world's oldest school of engineering? The school was founded in 1707 by Emperor Josef I.
Answer: Czechia
79. In December 2022, Verkada opened an engineering hub in which European country? Hint: This country only has red and white on their national flag.
Answer: Poland
80. Which twentieth century U.S. president was also a successful mining engineer? There is also a huge engineering project in the U.S. named after him.
Answer: Herbert Hoover
81. What material that sounds like something salmon would use to write a letter is also known as vulcanized fiber, and is a durable, flexible type of electrical insulation?
Answer: Fish Paper
82. Years before he founded HubSpot, Brian Halligan studied which kind of engineering at the University of Vermont?
Answer: Electrical
83. IAEE is an international nonprofit that holds important conferences on seismic safety in design and keeps and updates the world list of member countries' seismic regulations. What does IAEE stand for?
Answer: International Association for Earthquake Engineering
84. The namesake of a type of fabric, what is the former colonial-era name of Chennai, India, the city where Lystloc's engineering, marketing, and sales teams are based?
Answer: Madras
85. What function on Microsoft Excel, which has the same name as a Greek letter, is an engineering function to see if two values are the same?
Answer: Delta
86. What term beginning with I is a coal based process similar to FASTMET that uses iron oxide fines and pulverized coal to produce a scrap substitute?
Answer: Inmetco
87. Beginning with V, what sort of leveler is a set of rolls that flattens and stretches the strip into a flat shape?
Answer: Voss leveler
88. What two word term is used for the actual self-weight of an unloaded roof, floor, or similar surface?
Answer: Dead load
89. Sounding like a Radiohead song, what is the term for the continued extension of an object while under a steady load?
Answer: Creep
90. The first-ever Indy 500 was held in 1911, and won by what racer who was also well-known for his automobile engineering work?
Answer: Ray Harroun
91. What Michigan-based engineering software company is named after the twelfth-brightest star in the night sky?
Answer: Altair
92. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Alcoa and Arconic are the two largest U.S.-based producers of what elemental metal?
Answer: Aluminum
93. The "Institute of Technology" in what U.S. state was the first college to offer a Bachelor of Science program in Renewable Energy Engineering? The campus of this school is in the city of Klamath Falls and there are additional campuses in Wilsonville and Salem.
Answer: Oregon
94. The Rialto Bridge, the Bridge of Sighs, and a controversial bridge by Santiago Calatrava, are three of over 300 bridges in what city?
Answer: Venice
95. What engineering theory strives to get “the right people” together at “the right time” to collaborate on ways to solve design problems by having all the “moving parts” (so to speak) work on design at the same time?
Answer: Concurrent
96. Interlocking plastic rods, connectors, blocks, gears, wheels, and other components were the main pieces in what popular construction toy system that was founded in 1992 and featured slogans such as "Imagine, Build, Play" and "Building Worlds Kids Love"?
Answer: K'Nex
97. What Roman emperor, famed for his many other engineering and architectural projects as far away as Britain, built a namesake library in 132 CE next to Athens's Acropolis?
Answer: Hadrian
98. In which field of engineering would you work with things like glass, ceramics, metals, polymers, and nanocrystals, and even discover (or make) new substances?
Answer: Materials Engineering
99. The Washington Monument is the tallest non-communications structure in D.C. and was the tallest monument in the U.S. until the completion of the San Jacinto Monument in 1939 in what state?
Answer: Texas
100. Listed as one of the biggest engineering firms in the world, Siemens is headquartered in which European city?
Answer: Munich
101. Inspired by how coral reefs make minerals, LBM (such as biocement and self-replicating concrete) has become popular in construction and design. What does LBM stand for?
Answer: Living Building Material
102. In biomedical engineering, biopolymers, ceramics, and hydrogels, self-assembling peptides, and composites are examples of which biomaterial that can be made for organs in the human body?
Answer: Tissue
103. What is the name of the genetic structure in a cell, typically circular in bacteria, that can replicate independently of the chromosomes and which is commonly used as a vector in genetic engineering?
Answer: Plasmid
104. What “A” concept describes the tendency of dissimilar surfaces to cling to one another?
Answer: Adhesion
105. What is the name of the suspension bridge that connects the two major peninsulas of Michigan?
Answer: Mackinac Bridge
106. What term beginning with H is a measure of the difference of behavior between loading and unloading an object?
Answer: Hysteresis
107. In electrical engineering, which term applies to a circuit that starts and ends at the same node as another, and the voltage for all the points is the same?
Answer: Parallel
108. In which field of study would you think about what an object (like an airplane) does to the air around it?
Answer: Aerodynamics
109. Which Ancient Greek mathematician and scientist is credited with a lot of discoveries and inventions, including his “screw”—an engineering principle that’s a key feature of hydraulics?
Answer: Archimedes
110. What beachy slang term refers to the miners and construction workers who have built a large portion of New York City's infrastructure?
Answer: Sandhogs
111. Engineers might use which dynamic discipline of mechanics to understand how liquids and gases move and can be affected by factors like the atmosphere and various forces?
Answer: Fluid
112. Because it features a shape that resembles a traditionally-woven "skep," the Executive Wing of New Zealand Parliament Buildings is often referred to by what name?
Answer: The Beehive
113. What spoopy 363-mile traverse was opened in 1825 and was mocked during construction as a "big ditch" or "folly" but ended up dramatically transforming the transportation network in the United States?
Answer: Erie Canal
114. What “Z” word is a massive structure from ancient Mesopotamia, a terraced compound of receding stories or levels? A testament to ancient engineering, it gets its name from an Akkadian word meaning “pinnacle” or “height.
Answer: Ziggurat
115. Though his fame exploded with a separate project nearly 30 years later, what European architect designed an iron bridge over the Garonne River in Bordeaux?
Answer: Eiffel
116. One of the world's largest construction projects, Al Maktoum a.k.a. Dubai World Central is what kind of go-go piece of infrastructure?
Answer: Airport
117. The name of which equine follows “nodding” in a term used for a type of reciprocating pump used to extract oil from a well?
Answer: Donkey
118. What American university established a new engineering campus in New York City in 2012 as the result of an economic development initiative of Michael Bloomberg's to build on Roosevelt Island?
Answer: Cornell
119. Before turning to airplane endeavors, the Wright brothers operated a bicycle repair shop in what Ohio city?
Answer: Dayton
120. Developed by Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland in New York 1907, by which single word is the plastic polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride commonly known?
Answer: Bakelite
121. A mechanical engineer would want to know the difference between a gasket, which is placed between two flat surfaces to prevent leaks, and what other fixture that’s similar but is designed to go around a shaft to prevent leaks on moving parts?
Answer: Seal
122. Which English engineer was the first to call himself a ‘civil engineer’, and thus is regarded as the father of civil engineering?
Answer: John Smeaton
123. Because he developed some of the first ever steam locomotives, which British engineer was known as “the father of the railway” before his passing in 1848?
Answer: George Stephenson
124. What controversial structure, built along China's Yangtze River, became the world's largest power station in 2012 and is also the world's largest concrete structure?
Answer: Three Gorges Dam
125. What is the SI derived unit of electrical conductance? This unit is the reciprocal of resistance and is named after the founder of a German electrical and telecommunications company.
Answer: Siemens
126. What "magician of iron" engineer designed the skeletal framework for the Statue of Liberty?
Answer: Gustav Eiffel
127. An automobile factory totaling 1.5 million square feet located in Newark, Delaware produced more than 7 million cars before its 2008 closure. Which of the "Big Three" automobile manufacturers owned and operated the plant while in operation?
Answer: Chrysler
128. The metal alloy invar, which has a low coefficient in thermal expansion, leading to its application where high-dimensional security is required, comprises iron and which ferromagnetic element?
Answer: Nickel
129. Benban Solar Park is a desert-located solar power station with planned capacity of 3.8 TWh. It is currently the 4th-largest solar power plant in the world with plans to become the largest at some point. In what country would you find this massive installation that is visible from outer space?
Answer: Egypt
130. What is the name of the robotic lander with an acronym for a name that launched in 2018 in order to study the interior of Mars? Its name implies that it will gain a deep understanding of its mission.
Answer: InSight
131. Which famous British engineer (1806-1859) was widely regarded as one of the greatest engineers of all time, and was responsible for the first transatlantic steamer?
Answer: Isambard Kingdom Brunel
132. As defined by the American Society of Civil Engineers, which subfield of engineering involves studying and making use of Earth’s natural ground materials like rocks and soil?
Answer: Geotechnical
133. What Englishman was a mathematician, philosopher, inventor, and mechanical engineer, and is largely considered the originator of the concept of a digital programmable computer? His last name rhymes with a common vegetable.
Answer: Charles Babbage
134. The Engineers are the sports teams of what upstate New York technical university? You may give the three-letter abbreviation by which the school is often known.
Answer: RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)
135. The Tacoma Narrows bridge, which collapsed four months after its opening on July 1, 1940, is known by what alliterative nickname? The bridge collapse was captured on film, and the remains of the bridge have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Answer: Galloping Gertie
136. Named after a German engineer born in 1832, what is the name of the idealized thermodynamic cycle that is the typical cycle used by internal combustion engines?
Answer: Otto cycle
137. Hybrit engineers and manufactures what colorful kind of steel, which has a lower carbon footprint from its production?
Answer: Green Steel
138. In the 2010s, the size of photovoltaic power stations to generate and store solar energy has increased dramatically. Back in 2012, the largest project to-date was completed in Arizona and had a capacity of 247 MegaWatts. Only eight years later, there are now two power stations with capacity for more than 2,000 MegaWatts each, both of which are located in what country?
Answer: India
139. When a heat circuit produces energy, what is the formal term for the “lost” energy that the electronic device essentially “lets go of” to prevent overheating? It follows Newton’s Law of Cooling.
Answer: Dissipation
140. Which type of bridge is characterized by two projecting beams or trusses that are joined in the center by a connecting member and are supported on piers and anchored by counterbalancing members? The Quebec Bridge is an example of this type of bridge.
Answer: Cantilever
141. Known for its high-style of architecture designed by Richard Rogers, Su Rogers, Renzo Piano, and Gianfranco Franchini, what French landmark is named after the 19th president of France and is home to Europe’s largest modern art museum?
Answer: Centre Pompidou
142. What term beginning with Y is part of a device, composed of magnetic material and intended to complete a magnetic circuit?
Answer: Yoke
143. Engineer Ove Arup, whose engineering firm helped build the Sydney Opera House that was designed by Jorn Utzon from Denmark, was born in which country?
Answer: United Kingdom
144. Not related to a '70s funk band, what property of PV semiconductors indicates the wavelengths of light the material can absorb and convert to electrical energy?
Answer: Bandgap
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