PT114.S2.Q25

PrepTest 114 - Section 2 - Question 25

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Support In our solar system only one of the nine planets—Earth—qualifies as fit to sustain life. ████████████ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ███████████ ███ █████████████ █████ ██████ ██ █████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ██ █████████ ██████

Summarize Argument

The author concludes that there must be a very large number of planets in the universe that are fit to sustain life. He bases this conclusion on the fact that in our solar system, one out of nine planets can sustain life. The author then argues that if you apply this ratio to all planets in the universe, you would end up with a large number that could sustain life.

Identify and Describe Flaw

The author never provides any basis for his application of the one-in-nine ratio from our solar system to the rest of the universe. Without giving us any reason to believe that other solar systems are similar in planetary makeup to ours, the author’s conclusion is unsupported.

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25.

The argument is questionable because ██ ████████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ███████ █████████ ██████████████

a

If a planet ██ ██████████ ████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ███

b

Our solar system ██ ███████ ██ ████ █████ █████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████

c

The conditions necessary ███ ████ ██ █████ ███ ████ ███████████

d

Life similar to ███████ █████ ██████ █████ ██████████ ████ █████████ ████ █████ ██ ██████

e

Most other planetary ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ████ ████████

Confirm action

Are you sure?