PT121.S2.P3.Q13 > Analytics

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According to the theory of gravitation, every particle of matter in the universe attracts every other particle with a force that increases as either the mass of the particles increases, or their proximity to one another increases, or both. ███████████ ██ ████████ ██ █████ ███ ██████████ ██ ██████ █████████ ███ ███ ██████ █████████ ███

Theory of gravitation · Gravity is believed to have shaped the structure of the universe

Gravity = every particle of matter attracts every other particle based on the mass of particles and how close they are to each other

Puzzling phenomenon · 90% of the universe seems to be missing

The observable mass isn't enough to explain the universe.

Cosmologists' hypothesis · Dark matter

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Elaborate on dark matter · Dark matter might be neutrinos

But, neutrinos have been assumed to have no mass. So, how could they be the dark matter that helps the universe take its shape? (Come back to this paragraph for details of exactly what neutrinos are.)

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Elaborate on dark matter · Neutrinos do have mass, so they can, in theory, be dark matter

Research shows that neutrinos can oscillate. And oscillation requires mass. (Come back to this paragraph for details of exactly what oscillation is.)

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Limits of neutrinos as dark matter · Neutrinos are at most about 20% of dark matter

There must be other particles that make up the rest of dark matter. Cosmologists still find the neutrino theory of dark matter helpful.

Passage Style

Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)

Single position

13.

Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████████

Question Type

Main point

In a Phenomenon-Hypothesis passage, the main point typically focuses on the hypothesis presented. Here, the author presents the hypothesis that neutrinos partially explain the “dark matter” necessary for the universe to have formed.

Although cosmologists believe ████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ ██ ████████████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ████████████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ███████████ ████ █████ ██ ████████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ██ █████████ ████ █████████

This captures the point of the first half of P1. But it doesn’t capture the point of the whole passage, because it doesn’t mention neutrinos.

Given their inability ██ ███████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████████ █████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ███████ █████████████ ██ ███████ ██ █████████████ █████████

This is unsupported, because the passage never suggests that scientists are questioning our understanding of gravity. Scientists believe there is unobservable mass that must exist in order to support the theory that gravity allowed galaxies to form, but this doesn’t constitute speculation that we misunderstand gravity.

Indirect evidence suggesting ████ █████████ ████ ████ ███ █████ █████████ ██ ███████ ███ ██ ██ ██ ███████ ██ ████ ███████ █ ███████ ████ █████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██ █ ████████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ████████

This is the best answer. “Indirect evidence” refers to the evidence from oscillation, which is indirect because it provides evidence that neutrinos have mass without directly measuring neutrinos’ mass. (C) also captures the hypothesis that neutrinos are a partial explanation of dark matter.

83%

After much speculation, ███████████ ████ ██████████ ████ █████████ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ██████ ███████ ██████ █ ██████████ ████ ██████ ████ █████████ ████ █████

This is the point of P3, but not the point of the whole passage.

Although it has ████ ███████████ ████ █████████ ████ █████ ████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ███████████ ██ ████████████ ████ █████████ ██████████ █ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████████ █████

Anti-supported, because the author indicates the opposite. The author describes neutrinos as if they are a partial explanation of dark matter.

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PrepTest 121 - Section 2 - Passage 3 - Question 13

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PrepTest 121 - Section 2 - Passage 3 - Question 13

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