Self-study
Physicists attempting to create new kinds of atoms often do so by fusing together two existing atoms. ███ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ ███ ███ █████ ████ ███████ ████ ██████ █████████████ ███ ██ ████ ██████ ███████████ ████████ ███ ███████████████ █████ ██ █████ █████ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ██ ███ ██████ ████ █████ ███ █████ ███████ ███████ ███████ ███ ███████ ████████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██████ ████ ██ █████████ ████ █████ ██████ ███ █████████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ███ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ███ ███ ███████ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ███████████ █████ █████ ██████
Summary
Atoms naturally repel each other. But they can fuse together if they collide with enough energy to overcome this repelling force. If atoms collide with too much energy, however, then after the atoms fuse together, the excess energy will make the new fused atom hot. The hotter a fused atom, the greater the chance it will immediately split apart again.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
In order to fuse two atoms together, but also keep the fused atom from splitting apart again, there’s a certain range of energy that’s required for the collision. (In other words, there’s a certain “Goldilocks” range. The energy can’t be too low, or else the atoms won’t fuse. The energy can’t be too high, or else the atoms will split apart after fusing.)
15.
Which one of the following ██ ████ ████████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██████
a
When physicists create ███ █████ ██ █████ ██ ██████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██████ ███ ███ █████ ███████ █████ █████ █████ ████████████
Unsupported, because we don’t know the typical level of energy produced when physicists try to fuse atoms together. We have no evidence that the physicists aren’t creating collisions with the right amount of energy to avoid splitting.
b
If a new ████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ███████████ ██████ █████ ██████ ████ ███ █████████ ███ ███ ███████ ██████ ██████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████████████ █████ ██ █████ █████ █████ ████ ██████
This is anti-supported, because in order to fuse together in the first place, the energy of the collision needed to overcome the repelling force.
c
The stronger the ███████████████ █████ ██ █████ ███ █████ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ██ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███ ██████
Unsupported, because we don’t know about the relationship between the repelling force and heat. We know that if the collision produces a lot of energy, that create heat. But we don’t know what happens if the repelling force is greater or lower.
d
Whenever two existing █████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ████ ████████ ████ █ ███ █████ ██████ ██████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ███████████ ██████ ██████
Unsupported, because we know there’s a range of energy in which two atoms can fuse and not immediately split apart. This level of energy needs to be enough to overcome the repelling force, and this could be a high level. We don’t have evidence that this is a low amount of energy.
e
If two atoms ███████ ████ ████████████ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████████ █████ █████ ██████
Supported, because we know that if the energy produced by a collision greatly exceeds the minimum required to fuse, the fused atom will be very hot. The hotter an atom, the more likely it will split. I don’t like the word “likely” here, but it’s the most supported answer.