We all spend time every day in restrooms. But how much do we really know about them?
That’s the point of this quiz! Choose your responses, then skip to the bottom to see the correct answers with some fun explanation.
Who invented the first flushable toilet?
Leonardo da Vinci
Sir John Harington
Sir Isaac Newton
Thomas Edison
When and where was toilet paper invented?
Ancient Rome
6th century China
15th century France
19th century United States
Where would you find the world’s most expensive toilet?
The Empathy Suite at Las Vegas’ Palms Casino Resort
Jeff Bezos’ Florida mansion
The Burj Khalifa penthouse in Dubai
The International Space Station
What determines the direction of a toilet’s flush?
The angle of the water jets
The Coriolis Effect
The hemisphere where the toilet is located
Atmospheric air pressure
In a conventional toilet, what forces water and waste out of the bowl?
Water pressure
Atmospheric pressure
Gravity
Compressed air
When and where did the word “restroom” originate?
Ancient Rome
15th century France
18th century England
20th century United States
Which of these is NOT a historic, well-known euphemism for “restroom”?
The loo
The powder room
The library
The jacks
What was the first American TV show to show a toilet?
“Leave it to Beaver”
“The Beverly Hillbillies”
“All in the Family”
“Saturday Night Live”
How much more effective at waste removal is a pressure-assisted toilet over a gravity toilet?
29%
72%
146%
233%
Where is the International Museum of Toilets?
Las Vegas, Nevada
New Delhi, India
Tokyo, Japan
Dusseldorf, Germany
Quiz Answers
B. Sir John Harington invented the first flushable toilet in 1596.Da Vinci did sketch a design for a flushing toilet 80 years earlier, but it was too advanced for the existing technology and infrastructure at that time.
B. While modern toilet paper was invented in the 19th century, ancient Chinese records show that people used paper for personal hygiene as early as the 6th century.
D. This $23 million toilet accommodates astronauts in microgravity, with waste management and water recycling systems to support long-duration space missions.
A. The Coriolis Effect does actually impact the direction hurricanes circle, but toilets are far too small for this phenomenon. In reality, it’s the design of the water jets that determines flushing direction.
C. When you flush a conventional toilet, water falls from the tank into the bowl, creating a siphon effect that pulls the bowl’s contents down the drainpipe. Pressure-assisted toilets are a powerful alternative to gravity toilets—they force water into the bowl with compressed air, pushing waste out.
D. Americans commonly used “washroom,” “lavatory,” or “water closet,” but “restroom” made public toilets sound more discreet and elegant in department stores, restaurants, and hotels.
C. While many people do read in the restroom, “the library” has never been a commonly used term. “The loo” and “the jacks” are Irish and British slang, and “the powder room” was widely used in the mid-20th century.
A. A 1957 episode showed a toilet where Wally and Beaver hid their baby alligator—but only the tank, because censors at the time thought it was inappropriate to show a toilet bowl.
D. In Flushmate testing, using the same volume of water, a pressure-assisted toilet extracted 1,000 grams of waste, compared to 300 grams for a conventional gravity toilet.
B. Founded in 1992, the museum is run by an organization dedicated to sanitation and hygiene improvements in India.
Boost Your Toilet IQ!
Want to learn more about how pressure-assisted toilets can save water, stay cleaner, and eliminate the frustration of clogging? Talk to the experts at Flushmate!