PTB.S4.Q20 - Chemists have recently invented a new technique for extracting

blackberry

In the stimulus, James says: 'Chemist have recently invented [Deleted: Copyright]'

I really don't understand what James is saying. I've come up with:

• chemists have a new way of extracting rhodium from nuclear waste (is this correct?)
• creating catalytic converters for cars --> rhodium

I don't really get the last two sentences. How does it connect at all to the first sentence? Is it simply saying that chemist figured out a way to extract rhodium from nuclear waste, and because of this, new catalytic converters for cars can be created. And because catalytic converters remove noxious gases from car exhaust, the nuclear waste (nuclear power??what?) is sort of contributing in creating a cleaner environment?

Thank you in advance!

RealLaw612

I get:
Rhodium is an element necessary for making catalytic converters in cars (which remove bad stuff from exhaust).
Rhodium can be extracted from nuclear waste.
Therefore, nuclear power must be positively contributing to the environment.

Immediately, I have questions.
1. Is extracting rhodium from nuclear waste the only/safest/best way to get rhodium for catalytic converters?
2. Is the rhodium extracted from nuclear waste safe for use in these devices? What if it’s radioactive?
3. Are there other qualities about nuclear power that nullifies this apparent environmental contribution?

To clarify:

The assumption here is that the rhodium extracted from nuclear waste contributes in a positive way to the environment. The premises don’t necessarily support that conclusion because the rhodium could be useless, the extraction process could be environmentally damaging, or the net total of nuclear power pollution to catalytic converter benefit could be negative.

Hope this helps!

tams2018

@blackberry said:
In the stimulus, James says: 'Chemist have recently invented [Deleted: Copyright]'

Chemists invented a new technique for stripping rhodium from nuclear waste. This element(rhodium) is needed to manufacture catalytic converters for cars. The catalytic converters remove noxious gases from automobile exhaust. Author concludes that using nuclear power is a way to contribute to a cleaner environment.

Sounds like the author is referencing that the way to remove noxious gases in the car is the catalytic converter. To create this converter you need the rhodium element. To get the rhodium element, you have to get it from nuclear waste. To get nuclear waste you have to use nuclear power (use the material that gets you the power) and get rid of the waste.

Sounds like you have to put the pieces together in this puzzle to get to what author is saying.

RealLaw612

@tams2018 said:

@blackberry said:
In the stimulus, James says: 'Chemist have recently invented [Deleted: Copyright]'

Chemists invented a new technique for stripping rhodium from nuclear waste. This element(rhodium) is needed to manufacture catalytic converters for cars. The catalytic converters remove noxious gases from automobile exhaust. Author concludes that using nuclear power is a way to contribute to a cleaner environment.

Sounds like the author is referencing that the way to remove noxious gases in the car is the catalytic converter. To create this converter you need the rhodium element. To get the rhodium element, you have to get it from nuclear waste. To get nuclear waste you have to use nuclear power (use the material that gets you the power) and get rid of the waste.

Sounds like you have to put the pieces together in this puzzle to get to what author is saying.

We need to be careful not to add extra information to the argument. The stimulus does not say that you need nuclear waste to get rhodium; only that it’s possible. The fact that the extraction process has been recently invented means that catalytic converters were definitely being made from rhodium of a different source prior to this invention.

blackberry

Thank you all! I can't believe I didn't make the connection that nuclear waste comes from nuclear power -____-

tams2018

@99thPercentileOrDieTryin said:

@tams2018 said:

@blackberry said:
In the stimulus, James says: 'Chemist have recently invented [Deleted: Copyright]'

Chemists invented a new technique for stripping rhodium from nuclear waste. This element(rhodium) is needed to manufacture catalytic converters for cars. The catalytic converters remove noxious gases from automobile exhaust. Author concludes that using nuclear power is a way to contribute to a cleaner environment.

Sounds like the author is referencing that the way to remove noxious gases in the car is the catalytic converter. To create this converter you need the rhodium element. To get the rhodium element, you have to get it from nuclear waste. To get nuclear waste you have to use nuclear power (use the material that gets you the power) and get rid of the waste.

Sounds like you have to put the pieces together in this puzzle to get to what author is saying.

We need to be careful not to add extra information to the argument. The stimulus does not say that you need nuclear waste to get rhodium; only that it’s possible. The fact that the extraction process has been recently invented means that catalytic converters were definitely being made from rhodium of a different source prior to this invention.

in the context of this argument, rhodium and nuclear waste is the context. I think you assumed I meant that you can ONLY get rhodium from nuclear waste, which is not the case here. A technique was developed to extract rhodium from nuclear waste.

My point was to direct the OP to understand where the rhodium comes from using this new technique based on the argument.

tams2018

@blackberry said:
Thank you all! I can't believe I didn't make the connection that nuclear waste comes from nuclear power -____-

Glad to help. Just remember to read closely the conclusion and read back the premises and see if you can find a statement that might provide some support for it.