PT113.S1.P2.Q11

PrepTest 113 - Section 1 - Passage 2 - Question 11

Hide analysis
P1

Spurred by the discovery that a substance containing uranium emitted radiation, Marie Curie began studying radioactivity in 1897. ███ █████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ █████████ ███ █████ █████ ███ ████ ██████ ████████████ █ ███████ ████ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███ ██████████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███████████ ████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ███████████ ████ ███████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ███████████ ████████ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ █ ████ ██ ██████████ ███████ █████████ ████████ ███ ███████ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███████████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ████ ███████ ███████ █████████ ██ █ ██████████ █████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████████ █████ ██ █████ ████████ █████ █████████ ████ ███ ████████ ████ ███ █ █████ ███████ ███ █████████ ████████████ ███████ █████████ ████████ ██ ██ ████████████ ████ ██ ███████████ ██████████ ███████ █████████ ███ ████████████ █████████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ █████████ █ █████████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ██████████

Intro topic · Marie Curie's discoveries related to radiation
Discovered polonium and radium. Also disocvered that uranium emitted radiation at a constant rate. But, she couldn't explain what causes raidation.
P2

██ ██ ███ █████ ████ █████████ ██████ ████ ███████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ██████ ████████ ██ █████ ██████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ████ ████████ █████ ███ ███ ████████ ███ ████████ ████ ██████ ████ █████ ████ ███████ ████ ████████ ███████ █████ ███ ███ ████████ █████ ███████████ ████████ ███ ██ █████ ████ ████ ██████████ ███ █████ ██ ██ ██ █████ ███ ████████ █████████ ██ ████ ███

Critics and response · Some fault Curie for not discovering cause of radiation and decreasing rate; author says it wasn't her fault
Curie didn't have the evidence that we have today.
█████ ██████████ █████ ████████ ████ ██ ████ ███ ██████ ████████████ ████ ████████ ██████ ████████████ █████████ ███████████ ████████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ████████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ ██████ ███████ ████ ████ ███████ ████████ ████████ ███ ██ ████ ██████ ███████ ███████████ ███████ ████████ ████ ██ ████████ █████ █████ ████ ███████ ████████ ██ █ ███████ ████ █████ ████████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ███████████ ██ ███████████ █████

Support for author's response · Various radioactive isotopes weren't available to Curie or decayed to slowly to learn anything about rate
P3

████████████ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ███ █████ █████ ████████ ██████████ ████████ ████ ██████ █████ ███ ██ ███████ ████████████ ███ ███████ █████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ███████████ ███████████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ █████ █████████ ████ ████████ █████████ ████ █████ ██ ██ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ████ ███ ████ ██ █ ██████████ ███ ███████████████ ███ ██████████ ████ ███████████████ ████ ████ ███ ██████████ █████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ███████████ █████ ████████ ████████

Additional support · Nature of atom was being debated during Curie's time
Physicists (like Curie) believed that matter couldn't be divided indefinitely. In other words, there's nothing smalling than the atom.
P4

██ █ ██████████ █████ ███████████ ████ █████████ ██████████ █████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ████ █████████ ████ ███ ███████████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ██ ███ ███ █████ ███ █████ ████ ████████ ██ ███████ █████████ █████████ ███ ███████ █████████████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ██████ ████ █████████ ██████ ███████ ███ █████ ██████████ ████ ████████ ██████████ ████ ██████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████████ █████ █████ ███ ██ ████████ ██ ████ █████████ ███ ███

Continuing prior support · Curie couldn't have realized that atoms lose mass
█████████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ █████████ ██████ ███████████████ ██ ██ ████ █████████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ █████████████ ██ █████████ ████ █████ ███ ███ ███ ███ █████ ██████████████

Praise for Curie · Curie's research helped later breakthroughs
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Spotlight
Show answer
11.

The author's primary purpose in ███ ███████ ██ ██

a

summarize some aspects ██ ███ ███████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████ █████████

This best captures the author’s primary purpose. The author describes Curie’s research into radioactivity in P1 and spends most of the rest of the passage defending that research from recent critics who fault Curie for failing to discover the truth about radiation.

95%
b

describe a scientific ███████ ███ █████ ███ ███ ███████████ ██ ██ ███████ ██████

The author doesn’t argue for the correctness of an earlier theory. The author presents Curie’s research into radioactivity and defends it from critics. The author never claims that Curie’s theory regarding radioactivity is correct or that some earlier theory prior to Curie’s is correct.

1%
c

outline a currently ████████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ███████ ███ ████████ ████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████

The author’s focus is on Curie’s work, not on radiation. (C) describes a passage focused on radiation and the evidence for radiation.

2%
d

explain the mechanism ██ █████ █ ███████ ██████████ ██████ ███ █████████ ███ ██████ ████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ███████████

The author’s focus is on the impact of Curie’s work and how it was received by the scientific community. He doesn’t focus on the mechanism of radiation. Although the mechanism of radiation is mentioned as part of understanding the impact of Curie’s work, that doesn’t make the explanation of the mechanism underlying radiation the primary puprose of the passage.

2%
e

discover the antecedents ██ █ ██████████ ██████ ███ █████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ █ ███████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████████

The author doesn’t argue that Curie’s theory or anyone else’s theory is “not a genuine advance over its forerunners.” The author focuses on Curie’s contributions to radiation research, and we have no reason to think either her research or later research aren’t genuine advances.

1%

Confirm action

Are you sure?