Quickly Solve this riddle

7 - 4 + 3 * 0 + 1 = ?

One day, John and his friends were playing around. Jacob hit something with a Pin and it popped. John's dad came into the room that very moment, but he wasn't mad. In fact, he was smiling. What did Jacob hit?

Can you count the number of squares in the given picture?

Which is faster, Heat or Cold ? Explain.

They are the five precious gems of an everyday sort and all can be found on a Tennis Court. Who are they?

Three people enter a room and have a green or blue hat placed on their heads. They cannot see their own hat but can see the other hats.
The colour of each hat is purely random. They could all be green, blue, or any combination of green and blue.
They need to guess their own hat colour by writing it on a piece of paper, or they can write 'pass'.
They cannot communicate with each other in any way once the game starts. But they can have a strategy meeting before the game.
If at least one of them guesses correctly they win $10,000 each, but if anyone guesses incorrectly they all get nothing.
What is the best strategy?

What can you catch but never throw?

A thief is convicted in Mexico. He gets the death penalty. The judge allows him to say the last sentence to determine how the penalty will be carried out. If the thief lies, he will be hanged, if he speaks the truth he will be beheaded. The thief tells the last sentence and to everybody's surprise some minutes later he is set free because the judge cannot determine his penalty. What did the thief say?

I cannot talk, but I always reply when spoken to. What am I?

When Jack was six years old he hammered a nail into his favourite tree to mark his height. Ten years later at age sixteen, Jack returned to see how much higher the nail was. If the tree grew by five centimetres each year, how much higher would the nail be?