Water Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. A public advisory says tap water may contain disease-causing microorganisms. Which response most directly follows the purpose of a boil-water advisory?
Put the water in a refrigerator before drinking it
Follow the advisory and boil the water as directed before use
Run the water through an ordinary taste-and-odor pitcher
Let the water stand until visible particles settle
2. What is the process called when water on the ground enters the soil?
Infiltration
Condensation
Precipitation
Transpiration
3. What is the main purpose of disinfection during conventional drinking-water treatment?
To add dissolved minerals for flavor
To inactivate disease-causing microorganisms
To remove all dissolved salts
To make suspended sand settle faster
4. Rain falls on a hillside and flows into the same stream from several slopes. What area do those slopes collectively represent?
A water table
A watershed
A tidal zone
An aquifer
5. At a treatment plant, a chemical is added so tiny suspended particles gather into larger clumps that can be removed. Which treatment stage is this?
Desalination
Aeration
Coagulation and flocculation
Chlorination
6. What process forms cloud droplets when water vapor cools?
Condensation
Transpiration
Sublimation
Runoff
7. Two identical puddles are left outdoors. Which conditions would usually make one evaporate faster?
Warm, dry, and windy conditions
Cool, shaded, and humid conditions
Cool, humid, and still conditions
Warm, humid, and windless conditions
8. Which process changes liquid water at Earth’s surface into water vapor?
Precipitation
Condensation
Evaporation
Infiltration
9. Which description best defines an aquifer?
A channel constructed to carry surface water
A permeable underground layer that stores and transmits water
The boundary between fresh water and seawater at a coast
A sealed chamber used to disinfect drinking water
10. Why does ordinary ice float in liquid water?
Cold substances naturally rise above warmer substances
Freezing removes gravity from the water molecules
Surface tension always pushes solids above liquids
Its crystal structure makes it less dense than liquid water
11. Droplets form on the outside of a cold glass even though the glass is not leaking. Where did that liquid water mainly come from?
Water vapor in the surrounding air condensed on the cold surface
Water passed through the solid glass from inside
Oxygen and hydrogen formed new water on contact with the glass
The glass released water that had been stored in its structure
12. After taking up water through its roots, a plant releases water vapor mainly through tiny openings in its leaves. What is this process?
Percolation
Precipitation
Transpiration
Freezing
13. Coastal areas often experience smaller temperature swings than inland areas. Which property of water contributes most to this effect?
Water becomes less transparent when heated
Water always evaporates at the same rate
Water cannot transfer heat through convection
Water can absorb or release substantial heat with a relatively small temperature change
14. Fertilizer spread on a field later appears in shallow groundwater. Which pathway most plausibly carried it underground?
Freezing transformed the fertilizer into groundwater
Condensation pulled the fertilizer into underground clouds
Water dissolved some fertilizer and carried it downward through the soil
Surface tension forced the fertilizer through solid bedrock
15. A coastal community needs to remove dissolved salts from seawater. Which method is specifically designed for that task?
Sedimentation alone
Screening through a coarse grate
Adding chlorine alone
Reverse osmosis
16. A household wants to reduce water waste without changing its daily routines substantially. Which action is most likely to prevent continuous avoidable loss?
Chill drinking water in an open container
Water the garden during the hottest part of the day
Rinse a few dishes under a continuously running tap
Repair a toilet that keeps running after each flush