Science riddles can take riddling to a new, more intellectual level. Many of the riddles in this article rely upon some scientific knowledge, but we also have those that can be answered by just about anyone. Our article begins with some easy Science Riddles for Kids. Then we have a selection of Science Riddles for Students, arranged in an ever-increasing level of difficulty. Our Science Riddles for Adults may prove challenging for some of you who struggled with science in school. Finally, we have some Scientific Puzzles, guaranteed to give your mind a good workout. See how well your brain can deal with our awesome collection of Science Riddles!
Table of Contents
Science Riddles for Kids
Science riddles for kids can help create a passion for science and can add to the fun of learning scientific concepts. They also provide an opportunity for lateral learning and problem solving; kids develop new, creative ways to think. Our collection of science riddles for kids can be used by teachers and for fun icebreakers anywhere kids gather.
- You will find me in Mercury, Earth, Mars and Jupiter, but not in Venus or Neptune. What am I?
- What are the three R’s that keep our planet clean?
- Which weighs more, a ton of concrete or a ton of feathers?
- I can rush, be still, be hot, be cold, and be hard. I can slip through almost anything. What am I?
- What can go up and come down without moving?
- What has a foot on each side and one in the middle?
- What grows only upwards and can never come down?
- I am excellent to taste, but horrible to smell. What am I?
- I touch your face. I am in your words. I am a lack of space and beloved by birds. What am I?
- What breaks but never falls?
- What falls but never breaks?
- What has a mouth but cannot chew?
- What goes around and around the wood but never goes into the wood?
- What kind of rocks are on the bottom of the Mississippi River?
- What is the moon worth?
- What do the numbers 11, 69, and 88 all have in common?
- What is the center of gravity?
- Give it food and it will live; give it water and it will die. What is it?
- How can you tell a tree is a dogwood tree?
- What is a tornado’s favorite game to play?
- What runs faster, cold or hot?
- Why did the scientist take out his doorbell?
- What was the first animal to go into space?
- How did Ben Franklin feel after discovering electricity?
- What did one earthquake say to the other?
- What kind of tree can fit into your hand?
Science Riddles for Students
Riddles help make the study of science fun for students. We have some that rely on relatively simple scientific information and some that require high school or college science proficiency. We begin our list with come easy riddles and end with some sure to test your brain power. Enjoy!
- When the son of the water returns to the parent, it dies. What is it?
- What can be measured, but has no length, width, or height?
- What is full of holes but still holds water?
- What period of time weighs the least?
- I am the hottest body in the solar system, and I keep everyone warm. Who am I?
- I am a unit of chemical elements, but I can never be trusted. What am I?
- What can eat a lot of iron without getting sick?
- You are in a room with 3 monkeys. One has a banana, one has a stick, one has nothing. Which primate in the room is the smartest?
- Why was the science teacher angry?
- How do we know that Saturn was married more than once?
- How did the astronaut serve dinner in outer space?
- What is neither water nor land, and is always soaking wet?
- You can’t see me, but I can see you. To be more specific, I see through. What am I?
- What did the limestone say to the geologist?
- Did you hear the one about a chemist who was reading a book about helium?
- I am a god, a planet, and I can measure heat. What am I?
- What do you do with a dead chemist’s corpse?
- What kind of chemical element hates to be a follower?
- I am a gas that is helpful to plants, but I cannot be bought at a gas station. What am I?
- Number one is hydrogen. Twenty-five is manganese. Sodium is eleven. What list contains all of these?
- What do chemists call a benzene ring with iron atoms replacing the carbon atoms?
- Cesium and iodine love to watch television together. What is their favorite show?
- I can be good for you, I can be bad, I can be found all over inside and outside your body. I am microscopic, single-celled and have no nucleus.
Science Riddles for Adults
Most adults know some basic scientific information, but how much do you remember from your high school and college science classes? Our collection of science riddles for adults will test your memory and provide a few challenges.
- Of all the glands, I am known as the master, because I boss around the other endocrine glands and tell them what to do. But even though I am a bit bossy, you need me for many things, such as secreting hormones required for sexual development and promoting bone and muscle growth.
- Your mom and dad each gave you 23 of these threadlike strands and they helped to make you who you are.
- What two periodic elements, when combined, heal?
- When two light nuclei become one, I liberate quite a bit of nuclear energy? What am I?
- What is the most uninteresting of all the periodic elements?
- I was once an old massive star and soon I will be a brightly colored gas cloud, but for now I am a massive explosion. What am I called?
- What are the only two periodic elements to have the state of a liquid?
- I make up about three-fourths of all the universe and almost nothing is known about me. What am I?
- I am a hypothetical tunnel, a short cut if you will, of space-time which connects far away regions. I am a what?
- What did the scientist say when he found 2 atoms of helium?
- I was once called an embryo, but I have now gone through more than eight weeks of development, so my name is now changed to what?
- What kind of chemical element hates to be a follower?
- I am a black hole’s equivalent of a one-way street. What am I?
- What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray when you throw it away?
- What is the loneliest of all physics concepts?
- What four periodic elements, when combined, make up something that terrifies criminals?
- What element is derived from a Norse god?
- I am the toe that every scientist would love to have as their own, yet there has never been a single person who has had a toe that everyone agreed is the best. What kind of toe am I?
Scientific Puzzles
A riddle is a type of puzzle, and we have found some scientific puzzles that will really challenge your thinking. We begin this section with some longer story-type scientific puzzlers, and end with a collection of short, fun riddles designed to work your brain cells.
Shake It Up!
There is an earthquake which is one point higher on the Richter scale than another earthquake which is ten times powerful. Now how much powerful do you think the earthquake will be if it was just 1/2 a point higher on the Richter scale?
A Matter of Growth
When Henry was six years old, he hammered a nail into his favorite tree to mark his height. Five years later at age eleven, Henry returned to see how much higher the nail was. If the tree grew by ten inches each year, how much higher would the nail be?
The Bouncy Ball
Martha throws a ball from a 90-foot building. The ball is quite bouncy and when it hits the ground, it bounces back half way up. It keeps bouncing back to half way up. How many bounces will the ball take before it comes to a permanent halt?
Deadly Laundry
Andrew was going to bleach his socks because they had gotten muddy the day before. As he was pouring the bleach into the washing machine, he spilled some on the floor. He got some cleaning fluid and mopped it up with a rag. Minutes later Andrew was dead. Why?
A Matter of Where
Suppose we drop:
A 50 kg metal ball
A 40 kg ball of silk
From a height of 100 meters. Which will reach the ground first?
Some Short, Fun, but Tricky Science Puzzlers
- H, Be, F, S, Mn, Kr, In, Gd, and Tl? What’s the next in the sequence?
- What number do Nickel and Neon make when combined?
- You cannot see me, I cannot be touched, you cannot feel me, but I can cook your lunch.
- I make up about three-fourths of all the universe and almost nothing is known about me. What am I?
- What scientist is the least interesting to listen to?
- I know you may like to eat sugar, but when you eat too much of it and your blood-sugar levels rise, then my good friend Pancreas releases me into the bloodstream to restore blood sugar levels to their norm. What am I?
- Without me as a part of your brain, you would lose your posture and balance, and be unable to coordinate muscle movements. I always hang out near my good friend the brainstem. What am I?
- I come as a gas and I get in line with neon. I am also known as the home of a very super person. What am I?
There you have it; a collection of scientific riddles designed to please everyone, from young kids to college graduates. See how many you can answer, then share them with your family and friends. Riddle on and have fun!
Susan majored in English with a double minor in Humanities and Business at Arizona State University and earned a Master’s degree in Educational Administration from Liberty University. She taught grades four through twelve in both public and private schools. Subjects included English, U.S. and world history and geography, math, earth and physical science, Bible, information technologies, and creative writing.
Susan has been freelance writing for over ten years, during which time she has written and edited books, newspaper articles, biographies, book reviews, guidelines, neighborhood descriptions for realtors, Power Point presentations, resumes, and numerous other projects.
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