PrepTest 128, Section 4, Question 16
In the early 1900s, most astronomers mistakenly believed(458 more words not shown)
The author's discussion of nuclear(8 more words not shown)
- Aillustrate the impact(20 more words not shown)
- Bexplain in part(15 more words not shown)
- Cclarify an underlying(8 more words not shown)
- Dshow how Payne's(12 more words not shown)
- Edemonstrate that Payne's(13 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
My first description of this paragraph would be that fusion eventually helped confirm Payne's results.
What we’re looking for
But this question asks why the author discusses it here. We need to connect the modern explanation to the earlier story, especially the absence of an accepted energy mechanism when Payne made her claim.
Working the answers
- A
We aren't told that Payne's findings caused advances in another discipline. The direction described is that later understanding of fusion supported her results.
- BCorrect
The opening sentence of the last paragraph identifies a missing explanation of how hydrogen and helium could produce the sun's energy. The account of fusion then shows what scientists understand now but did not adequately understand in the 1920s. That knowledge gap helps explain why her fellow scientists resisted her interpretation. This answers the question more precisely than merely saying the paragraph confirms her work.
- C
Her stated reason for reexamining the iron hypothesis was the conflict between Kelvin's timescale and the fossil evidence. We can't make the later understanding of fusion her earlier reason.
- D
The later work confirmed her results; it isn't presented as modifying them.
- E
The data aren't described as incorrect. The disagreement concerned how to interpret them.
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