PrepTest 128, Section 1, Question 24

Working the answers

• A

  Not being able to predict a particle's destination isn't the same as being unable to determine whether a region has fractal properties. No such difficulty identifying those properties is established.

• B

  This contradicts the specific definition of chaos. Under chaos, a particle's general destination is predictable, even though its exact path and endpoint aren't.

• C
  Correct

  This supplies the practical link to failed replication. The first paragraph says starting conditions can differ in ways that are “small, inadvertent, or undetectable.” If a scientist can't detect or prevent every tiny difference, exactly recreating those conditions can sometimes be impossible. In an extremely sensitive system, that could prevent replication of the result.

  This is an inference from the explanation, not a sentence the physicists state word for word.

• D

  Knowing which body of water will receive the spilled water doesn't establish its exact path. The basin discussion supports a general destination outside the troublesome boundary; it doesn't give us this usual ability to predict the precise route.

• E

  This introduces a different task: reconstructing the route after learning the starting and ending points. The discussion doesn't establish that those two points usually tell us which path a particle took.