PrepTest 136, Section 1, Question 27
Advances in scientific understanding often do not build(475 more words not shown)
According to the passage, which(13 more words not shown)
- AIt neglected earlier(2 more words not shown)
- BIt reevaluated calculations(6 more words not shown)
- CIt never identified(7 more words not shown)
- DIt showed that(7 more words not shown)
- EIt recognized the(6 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
This asks for a stated fact about the physics community, so return to what actually happened during the 1930s. Researchers had theoretical calculations, obtained puzzling experimental products, struggled to identify them, and eventually connected the results. We need a claim the account supports, not a general impression that everyone was missing everything.
Working the answers
- A
The account doesn't establish that the community neglected earlier theoretical developments. Failure to recognize fission in these experiments isn't the same as neglecting theoretical work altogether.
- B
Earlier calculations are mentioned, but a reevaluation of those calculations isn't described. Recognizing experimental confirmation doesn't by itself show that someone recalculated or revised them.
- C
Never identified is contradicted by Hahn's report: barium had been conclusively identified. Meitner's later contribution was recognizing the significance of the data. The community's earlier difficulty doesn't erase the eventual identification by one of its researchers.
- D
Nothing compares uranium with other atoms to show it was easiest to split. The fact that these experiments used uranium doesn't establish a ranking.
- ECorrect
The third paragraph explicitly says analyses were hampered partly by the hazards posed by intensely radioactive substances (paragraph 3). Those dangers were a recognized practical difficulty in the research. That's direct support for the claim, without needing a further inference about the scientists' attitudes.
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