Marking my return from five intense family-filled days in California, how about a simple Science question? At last count, there seems to be 118 known elements (some natural, some human-created; some extremely common, some so rare that they’ve never been seen, but only theorized). Of those elements, how many are liquids at room temperature (generally defined as 20 degrees C or 68 degrees F)? And how many of them are gases? The rest, of course, should be solids.

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Yesterday’s question was:

In the history of western classical music, there have been several styles or periods – and within them trends or schools – which build on and transform those that came before. If I list them for you in alphabetical order, can you arrange them in chronological order?

The periods: Baroque, Classical, Contemporary, Galant, Medieval, Modernism, Renaissance, and Romantic.

The trends or schools within those periods: Ars antiqua, Ars nova, Ars subtilior, Empfindsamkeit. Expressionism, Impressionism, Mannheim school, Minimalism, Neoclassicism, Postminimalism, Postmodernism, Serialism, and Sturm und Drang.

And the answer is:

Medieval (from c. 500 to 1400)

• Ars antiqua (c. 1170 to 1310)
• Ars nova (c. 1310 to 1377)
• Ars subtilior (c. 1360 to 1420)

Renaissance (c. 1400 to 1600)

Baroque (c. 1580 to 1750)

Galant music (c. 1720 to 1770)

• Empfindsamkeit (c. 1740s to 1780)

Classical (c. 1750 to 1820)

• Mannheim school (c. 1740s to 1780)
• Sturm und Drang (c. 1770s)

Romantic (c. 1800 to 1910)

Modernism (c. 1890 to 1975)

• Impressionism (c. 1890 to 1930)
• Expressionism (c. 1900 to 1930)
• Neoclassicism (c. 1920 to 1950)
• Serialism (c. 1920 to 1975)

Contemporary (starting c. 1950)

• Minimalism (starting c. 1960)
• Postmodernism (starting c. 1960)
• Postminimalism (starting c. 1980)

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Ian’s Tough Trivia is a daily feature of this blog (Monday’s category is History; Tuesday is Arts; Wednesday is Science; Thursday is Entertainment; and Friday is Grab Bag). Each day, I post a tough question, as well as the answer to the previous day’s question. Simply comment on this post with your answer. I’ll approve the comments after the next question is posted. Sure, you can probably find the answers by searching the web, but what’s the fun in that?

And if you’ve got a favorite trivia question—or even just a topic for which you’d like to see a question—let me know! Reader participation is warmly encouraged.