PrepTest 144, Section 1, Question 22
Passage A Karl Popper's main contribution to the(496 more words not shown)
Passage A(258 more words not shown)
Passage B(246 more words not shown)
In passage B, which one(22 more words not shown)
- Bthe(1 more words not shown)
- Ethe(1 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
A's disturbing force is an influence a calculation assumes is absent. In the Uranus episode, astronomers initially leave out a nearby planet. Once Neptune is included, the predicted and observed orbits line up. We want the previously unaccounted-for influence, not the planet whose orbit they were trying to predict.
Working the answers
- A
Uranus is the object whose motion the astronomers are predicting. The missing influence on that motion comes from Neptune.
- B
The sun is already included in the assumptions about masses. It is not the overlooked body whose discovery resolves the mismatch.
- CCorrect
Neptune supplies the nearby influence that the initial calculation left out. Its discovery in the required location explains why the assumption of no nearby planet produced an incorrect prediction for Uranus.
- D
Mercury is the object of the second prediction problem. It is not identified as the unaccounted-for influence disturbing Uranus's predicted orbit.
- E
The moon has no role in either episode described. Nothing identifies it as the overlooked influence.
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