PrepTest 144, Section 1, Question 25
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's description of(31 more words not shown)
- Ethe(1 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
The black swan conflicts with what the all-white theory predicts. Here we need the astronomical observation that plays that role in the developments leading to rejection of Newton's theory.
What we’re looking for
That points to Mercury's orbit, which Newton's theory fails to predict and Einstein's theory successfully predicts using the old auxiliary assumptions. The relevant feature is the conflicting observed motion, not simply the discovery of another object.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Mercury's observed orbit supplies the challenge that ultimately contributes to rejecting Newton's theory of gravity. It plays the black swan's role: the world does not behave as the theory predicts. B's longer history also shows why scientists did not treat the first mismatch as automatically decisive.
- B
Uranus initially presents a mismatch too, but Neptune resolves it without rejecting Newton's laws. It does not play the requested role in the developments leading to rejection of the theory.
- C
Neptune repairs an auxiliary assumption and helps preserve Newton's laws in the Uranus episode. That is the opposite role from the conflicting observation that helps bring the theory down.
- D
Venus is not part of the described sequence leading to the rejection.
- E
The sun appears in the assumptions about mass. No observation of the sun is described as the counterexample that leads to rejecting Newton's theory.
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