Self-study
Studies have shown that the more high-stress points a bridge has, the more likely it is to fracture eventually. ████ █████ ████ ███ ██ ██████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████████ ███████ █████████████ ████████ █████████ ███████ ███ ██ ███████████ ██████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ███████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Having more high-stress points makes a bridge more likely to fracture, but high-stress points aren’t usually where fractures happen.
Objective
The right answer will be a hypothesis that explains why stress points don’t themselves fracture, despite stress points contributing to fractures. The explanation must give some reason why stress points are especially unlikely spots for fractures.
11.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ███████████ ████ ██ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████████ █████████ ████ ██ ███████████ ███████
a
In many structures █████ ████ ████████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ████████ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███████████ ███████
This backs up the stimulus, but it doesn’t explain why high-stress points don’t fracture despite making fractures more likely.
b
Fractures do not ███████ ██ ███████████ ███████ ███████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ ███████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ██████ ██████████
This explains the mechanism behind where fractures happen. High-stress points are reinforced against fractures, but transfer stress to weaker points where fractures occur. We now know why high-stress points contribute to fractures without themselves fracturing.
c
In many structures, ███ ███████ ██ ██████████ █████ ██████ ███████████ ██████ ██ ████████
We don’t care what happens after a fracture, or where high-stress points come from. This still doesn't tell us why fractures don't happen at the high-stress points.
d
Structures with no ███████████ ██████ ███ ███████████ ████ █ ████ ███████████ ██ ███████████
This doesn’t matter. We’re concerned with bridges that do have high-stress points, and specifically with why the high-stress points aren't where fractures happen.
e
Improper bridge construction, █████ ███████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ████████ ██████ █████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ ███████████ ██████ ███ ██ ██ █████████ ███████████ ██ ███████████
This backs up the correlation between high-stress points and fractures, but it still doesn’t explain why high-stress points themselves aren’t the site of fractures. It doesn’t explain the surprise in the stimulus.