PT4.S1.Q12 - Leachate is a solution, frequently highly contaminated...

randoname123randoname123 Member
edited May 2021 in Logical Reasoning 10 karma

EDIT: This is regarding PT4 S1 Q12 (LR question). I didn't realize that the "discuss" button makes a forum post.

I picked E because it was the only answer that made sense.

However, I don't see how it can be properly inferred from the passage. It's heavily implied, but it's not always true.

Basically, you can consider a situation where Leachate does not leak from a landfill because the landfill was not permeated by water, and thus leachate was never formed. Independently, the same landfill could exceed it's capacity to hold liquids. Maybe it's a landfill on Venus which is overflowing with molten iron, but there was no water present in the landfill to make Leachate in the first place. I realize that this is not something you can practically infer, but it does provide a logical exception to choice E and the LSAT is about finding the answer choice that has no logical exceptions.

Basically:

1) Leachate escaping a landfill is sufficient to say that the landfill's ability to hold liquids is exceeded because of the IFF statement
2) The landfill's ability to hold liquids NOT being exceeded is sufficient to say that Leachate did not escape the landfill.

I wouldn't really be worried about missing this question - eventually I would settle on E as the only choice that could possibly make sense. But this question could be a huge time sink re-reading all of the other answer choices because you're positive you missed something and I'm not really sure how to avoid it.

I think my issue is that the question doesn't establish that leachate exists in all landfills, and that choice E makes a statement about all landfills, not just landfills that contain Leachate.

Am I crazy?

Admin note: edited title; please use the format of "PT#.S#.Q# - [brief description]"

Comments

  • canihazJDcanihazJD Alum Member Sage ⭐
    edited May 2021 8491 karma

    Sentence 2: "If and only if the LF capacity is exceeded does L escape." = If LF cap is exceeded L escapes + L escapes only if LF cap is exceeded.

    Gives you: Exceeded ←→ Escape = Exceeded → Escape + Escape → Exceeded

    The part we're worried about here is "Exceeded → Escape," which contraposed (is that a word?) gives you "/Escape → /Exceeded," which is what answer E says.

    Your hypotheticals don't apply here because they conflict with the premise above which we accept as true. If your Venus landfill exists in the world of this question, the only way L escapes from it is still if its capacity is exceeded, and if capacity is exceeded, L will definitely escape into the Venusian environment.

    Yes, all you need is the first part of that one sentence for this question.

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