PT115.S3.P3.Q20 > Analytics

Hide analysis

With the approach of the twentieth century, the classical wave theory of radiation—a widely accepted theory in physics—began to encounter obstacles. ████ ██████ ████ ████ ███ ███████████████ ███████████████ ██████ ████████ ████ █████ ███ █ ████ ██ █████ ████████████ █████████ ████ ███ ██████████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ███

Challenge to Existing Theory · Classical wave theory claims that all radiation exists as waves

If this theory is being challenged, that must mean that some (or all?) radiation doesn't take the form of waves?

Theory's Assumption · Wavelength and energy are continuous

Continuous means that any conceivable energy value could occur in nature. But if that's the assumption, then it probably will turn out to be false. So... what's the opposing concept to "continuous?"

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

Phenomenon (Unexplained by Wave Theory) · "Blackbody" radiation

"Blackbody" radiation is the heat(?) emitted by an object. The object is black so that it doesn't reflect other forms of radiation (e.g., light in the visible wavelengths). That way, physicists can be sure that they're measuring radiation emitted by the object, as opposed to radiation that merely bounced off that object.

Wave Theory's Prediction · Blackbody objects would radiate more at short (compared to long) wavelengths

Prediction False · Physicists found almost no short wavelength radiation

The theory predicted that they would find a lot of short wavelength radiation, e.g., ultraviolet radiation. But experimental results contradicted that prediction.

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

New Hypothesis · Planck theorized that energy was discrete

Planck discarded wave theory's energy continuum (like a smooth turning dial). He didn't think that energy could take on any value. He hypothesized that energy could only take on discrete values. So to move from one energy level to the next involves a jump (like a dial that clicked into place).

Reception of Hypothesis · Physics community initially skeptical

Because Planck didn't provide a mechanism to explain how discrete energy jumps occurred.

Support for Hypothesis · Einstein (and others) provided theoretical justification

Found that energy values were discontinuous and found threshold beyond which no energy is emitted.

New Theory · Einstein theorized that radiation is composed of particles called photons

Photons can be emitted only in discrete units and at certain wavelengths, corroborating Planck's hypothesis.

Passage Style

Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)

Single position

20.

The author's attitude toward Planck's ███████████ ██ █ ███ ██████████ █████ ██████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ █████████ ██

strong admiration for ███ █████████ ████ ████ ███ ██ █ ████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ████████ ███████ ██ ██████ █████████

Planck’s hypothesis did not lead to a “restored confidence in wave theory’s picture of atomic processes.” Rather, it countered a fundamental assumption of wave theory.

11%

mild surprise at ███ ███████ ████████ ██████ ████ █████████ ██████ █████████

The author isn’t surprised by Planck’s hypothesis. Although she uses the word “bizarre” to describe the hypothesis, this is a description of how the scientific community viewed the hypothesis. It was “bizarre” because it wasn’t consistent with the fundamental assumption or wave theory and had no physical explanation. But this doesn’t imply the author thinks Planck’s position is bizarre or that it is surprising.

reasoned skepticism of ████████ ████ ██ ██████████ █████████████ ███ ███ ██████████

The author isn’t skeptical of Planck’s hypothesis. She never suggests Planck should have provided justification or that his hypothesis is less credible because Planck himself didn’t provide justification.

legitimate concern that ███ ██████████ █████ ████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████

There’s no evidence the author is worried about what would have happened to Planck’s hypothesis.

scholarly interest in █ ████ ████ ███ ██ █ ████ ████████ ███████ ██ ██████ █████████

This is th best answer. The author has scholarly interest — she wrote a whole passage about the development of Planck’s hypothesis and how the hypothesis was later supported.

67%

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

It takes about five minutes.

Take the free diagnostic

More free LSAT prep: Sample LSAT questions Full-length diagnostic & practice test All free LSAT resources

PrepTest 115 - Section 3 - Passage 3 - Question 20

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

Difficulty

Analysis

Answer Popularity

Question history

Confirm action

PrepTest 115 - Section 3 - Passage 3 - Question 20

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

Difficulty

Analysis

Answer Popularity

Question history

Want to know why the right answer is right?