Self-study
Henry: Engines powered by electricity from batteries cause less pollution than internal combustion engines. ██████████ ██ ██████ █████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ███████ ████████ ███████████ ████ ███████████████ █████████
█████ █ █████████ ███████████████ ████████ ████ ████ █████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ██████ █████ ██████████ ███ █████ ██████ █ ███████ ██████ ███ ███████████ █████████ ██ █████ ███████ █████ ███ ██████████ █ █████ ██████ ██ ██████████
Summarize Argument
Umit concludes that we should not replace standard cars with battery-powered cars in order to reduce urban pollution. This is because the widespread use of battery-powered cars would create a greater demand for electricity from power plants, and power plants are a major source of pollution.
Notable Assumptions
Umit assumes that the pollution produced by power plants would affect urban areas (as opposed to affecting only non-urban areas). Umit also assumes that the decrease in urban pollution resulting from switching to battery-powered cars would not outweigh whatever increase in urban pollution is caused by the increased use of power plants.
19.
Of the following, which one, ██ █████ ██ ███ █████████ ███████ █████ █████ ████ ██ ██████ ██████████
a
Pollution caused by █████ ██████ ██ █████████ ████████ ██ █ █████ ██████ ██ █████████ █ ███████████ ████████ ████ █████ ███████
This provides a reason to think that the pollution from power plants would not necessarily affect urban areas. Thus, Umit’s point about pollution from power plants does not necessarily show that battery-powered cars can’t reduce urban pollution.
b
The increased air █████████ █████████ ████ █ ███████ ██████ ███ ███████████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███████ ██ ████████ █████████
Even if the increased pollution from electricity demand would be offset by decreased pollution from electric cars, that just means we’re back to the same level of pollution as before. This doesn’t undermine Umit’s point, which is that electric cars won’t decrease urban pollution.
Directionally wrong
Directionally wrong
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).
c
Electric motors could ██ ██████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ████ ██ ███████ █████ █████ ████ ███████ █████████ ███ █████████ ███████ ████ █████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ █████████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████ █████████
Even if electric cars could be limited to smaller batteries, that doesn’t change the fact that widespread use of electric cars would create a greater demand for electricity from power plants.
d
Hybrid vehicles using ████ ████████ ███ ████████ █████ ████████ ███ █████████ ██████ ███ ███████████ ████████ ██ █████ ███████
The argument concerns widespread use of battery-powered vehicles. Hybrid vehicles are a different kind of vehicle and don’t impact what would happen if non-hybrid electrics become widespread.
e
Most power plants ███ █████████ █████████ ████ █████ ████████ ███ █████ █████████ ███████████ ███ █████████ ██████ ███ ████████████
The issue is not whether the power plants could produce enough electricity. It’s about the pollution produced from the power plants. If anything, (E) might strengthen by showing that power plants have the capacity to make more electricity and thus pollute.