Self-study
The solidity of bridge piers built on pilings depends largely on how deep the pilings are driven. █████ ██ █████ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███ ██ ███ █████ ██ █████ ████ ███████ ██ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ███ ████████ ████████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ ███ ███ ████████████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ██ ██████ █████ ██████████ ███████████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ █████ ███████████ ██████ ██████
Summary
The solidity of bridge piers is based mainly on the depth of the pilings. Before 1700, pilings were driven to “refusal,” which is the point at which the piling don’t go any deeper.
The Rialto Bridge’s pilings met the “contemporary standard for refusal” as of 1588. According to this standard, the pilings were driven into the ground until additional penetration into the ground was not greater than two inches after 24 hammer blows.
Very Strongly Supported Conclusions
There’s no clear conclusion to anticipate. But notice that there’s a difference between “refusal” and the “contemporary standard for refusal” in 1588. The definition of “refusal” involves pilings that can’t go any deeper. But the “contemporary standard for refusal” in 1588 allowed for the pilings to go deeper — just not deeper than two inches per 24 hammer blows.
2.
Which one of the following ███ ████████ ██ ████████ ████ ███ ████████
a
The Rialto Bridge ███ █████ ██ ██████ ████████
We don’t know what pilings are safe or unsafe. We know that solidity depends on pilings, but we have no basis to say that the depth at which the Rialto pilings were driven was safe or unsafe.
b
The standard of ███████ ███ ███ ██████████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ █ ███████
We don’t know what depth of pilings is safe or unsafe. We know that solidity depends on pilings, but we have no basis to say that the contemporary standard of refusal was safe or unsafe.
c
Da Ponte's standard ██ ███████ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ██ █████ ██████ ████████ ██ ███ ████
We don’t know the standard that Da Ponte used. We know that his pilings met the standard for refusal as of 1588, but we don’t know whether Da Ponte used this standard or whether his standard was more or less strict than anyone else’s.
d
After 1588, no ███████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████████
We don’t know whether there were any bridges built to the point of refusal after 1588. Maybe there were some driven to the point of refusal in 1589; we have no idea.
e
It is possible ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ █████ ████ ████ ██████ ██████ ████ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ ████ ████
This is supported by the last sentence. The contemporary standard of refusal still allowed the pilings to be driven deeper — just not more than 2 inches deeper per 24 hammer blows. But, for example, the pilings might have been driven 1 inch deeper after 24 hammer blows, or even just 1 millimeter deeper.