LSAT 102 – Section 3 – Question 19

LSAT 102 - Section 3 - Question 19

June 1998

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT102 S3 Q19
+LR
+Exp
Most strongly supported +MSS
Fill in the blank +Fill
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
2%
162
B
3%
152
C
0%
152
D
1%
160
E
94%
165
133
141
149
 +Easier 147.613 +SubsectionMedium

When an ordinary piece of steel is put under pressure, the steel compresses; that is, its volume slightly decreases. Glass, however, is a fluid, so rather than compressing, it flows when put under pressure; its volume remains unchanged. Any portion of a sheet of glass that is under sustained pressure will very slowly flow to areas under less pressure. Therefore, if a single, extremely heavy object is placed in the middle of a horizontal sheet of glass of uniform thickness and if the glass is able to support the weight without cracking, then the sheet of glass will eventually _______.

Summary
Today, we’re learning about glass. Glass is a fluid, so when it’s put under pressure, its volume stays the same but it flows slowly to an area of lesser pressure. The stimulus proposes an example where an extremely heavy object is placed on the middle of a sheet of glass. So what happens?

Strongly Supported Conclusions
Based on the scenario given, we can see that a heavy object would put pressure on the middle of the sheet of glass. Because glass flows away from pressure without changing in volume, we can infer that over time the sheet of glass would shift away from the pressure, becoming thinner in the middle where the object is, and thicker around the edges.

A
become larger in size yet still be of uniform thickness
This is anti-supported. Because fluid flows away from areas of higher pressure, the glass would thin out in the part under the heavy object and become thicker in the non-pressured areas. Thus, it would not remain uniformly thick.
B
flow toward the point at which the pressure of the object is greatest
This is anti-supported. The stimulus directly states that fluids flow away from areas of higher pressure. Since glass is a fluid, it would therefore flow away from the point of greatest pressure, not towards.
C
compress, although not as much as a piece of steel would
This is anti-supported. The stimulus explains that glass, as a fluid, does not compress; instead, it flows. Because fluids do not compress, glass would not compress under pressure.
D
divide into exactly two pieces that are equal in neither size nor shape to the original piece of glass
This is not supported. The stimulus specifically sets out the condition that the glass would not crack, so it could only divide into two pieces if the glass flowed fully out from underneath the object. And we just don’t have a good sense of whether or not that would happen.
E
be thinner in the portion of the glass that is under the pressure of the object than in those portions of the glass that are not under that pressure
This is strongly supported. We know that glass flows away from pressure. This means it would slowly move away from the pressure created by the object and towards non-pressured areas, causing the sheet to be thinner where there’s pressure and thicker where there isn’t.

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LSAT PrepTest 102 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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