Following two successful editions in 2022 and 2023, welcome back to Global Cement’s Quiz of 2024. Answers are below - No peeking!
1. Which cement producers entered into a US-only merger in January 2024?
A: Summit Materials & Cementos Argos;
B: Summit Materials & CRH;
C: CRH & Cementos Argos;
D: All three combined their assets.
2. February 2024 was the warmest February on record and the ninth warmest month in a row. What was the mean surface temperature on Earth?
A: 11.5°C; B: 12.5°C; C: 13.5°C; D: 14.5°C.
3. Who admitted that they were 'not very good at Photoshop' in March 2024?
A: Donald Trump; B: Elon Musk; C: King Charles III: D: Catherine, Princess of Wales.
4. Taylor Swift released her record-setting album The Tortured Poets Department in April 2024. How many weeks did it spend at the top of the Billboard 200 Album Chart?
A: 7; B: 17; C: 27; D: 37.
5. President-elect Donald Trump became the first former US President to be convicted of felonies in May 2024 relating to his handling of the 2016 Presidential Election. How many counts were there?
A: 14; B: 24; C: 34; D: 44.
6. The biggest grossing film of 2024 was released in June 2024, taking US$1.69bn. What was it?
A: Deadpool & Wolverine; B: Inside Out 2; C: Dune Part 2; D: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
7. Which individual athlete won the most medals at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics?
A: Leon Marchand (France, Swimming); B: Yufei Zhang (China, Swimming); C: Simone Biles (US, Gymnastics); D: Regan Smith (US, Swimming).
8. The largest diamond to be found in more than 100 years, weighing in at 2492 carats (498g), was uncovered in August 2024, but where..?
A: Angola; B: Botswana; C: Cameroon; D: Djibouti.
9. The Starliner spacecraft returned safely to Earth in September 2024 without astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore, due to safety concerns. How much longer than expected will they be in space?
A: 4 months; B: 6 months: C: 8 months: D: 1 year.
10. Russia fined Google two undecillion Roubles in October 2024 for restricting Russian state media channels on YouTube. How much is this in US$?
A: US$2 x 1014; B: US$2 x 1024; C: US$2 x 1034; D: US$2 x 1044.
11. Baku, Azerbaijan, hosted the COP 29 Climate Conference in November 2024. What percentage of its budget did state-owned oil company Socar invest in renewables in 2023?
A: 53%; B: 33%; C: 13%; D: 3%.
12. The Nobel Prizes 2024 will be given to winners in Stockholm, Sweden, in December 2024. What topic will the physics prize be awarded for?
A: Black holes; B: Artifical Intelligence; C: Lasers; D: Quantum entanglement.
Answers
1. A: Summit Materials & Cementos Argos.
2. C: 13.5°C, 0.8°C above the 1990 - 2020 average.
3. D: Catherine, Princess of Wales, prompted endless speculation and conspiracy theories by issuing a badly-edited family photograph.
4.B : 17, beating the previous record for a female artist by 5 weeks.
5. D: 34 counts.
6. B: Inside Out 2, which beat 2023's better known Barbie (US$1.45bn).
7. B: Yufei Zhang won six medals, taking five bronze and one silver. Leon Marchant won the most gold medals, winning four at his first Olympics.
8. B: Botswana. It was displayed by the country's President Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi.
9. C: 8 months. They are due to return in February 2025.
10. C: US$2 x 1034 - more money than there is in the world!
11. D: 3%, with 97% allocated to fossil fuels.
12. B: AI - John Hopfield & Geoffrey Hinton won 'for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.'
