PT140.S4.P4.Q26 > Analytics

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Physicists are often asked why the image of an object, such as a chair, appears reversed left-to-right rather than, say, top-to-bottom when viewed in a mirror. ███

Phenomenon / Question · Mirrors only flip images left-to-right. Why not also top-to-bottom?

Field-of-sight Hypothesis / Answer · Something about the axis around which the viewer rotates

No idea what this means. Please god let this not matter.

Front-to-back Hypothesis / Answer · Mirrors actually reverse the image front-to-back

As if there's another object "inside" the mirror

Critique · Of front-to-back hypothesis

Hypothesis is based on a false premise. There's no object inside the mirror.

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Concession · Front-to-back hypothesis has some explanatory power

We usually transform our sense perception into mental constructs of objects. This is why this hypothesis is appealing.

Motivations · Of front-to-back hypothesis

Wants to separate the observer from the phenomenon.

Main Point / Critique · Of front-to-back hypothesis

The real explanation of what mirrors do must consider both the mirror and the observer. So, like the field-of-sight explanation?

Passage Style

Critique or debate

Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)

26.

The author would be most ██████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████ █████ ███ ██████████████ ███████████ ██ ████ ███████ ███

Question Type

Author’s perspective

Implied

The author presents the field-of-sight explanation as the standard answer physicists give for why a mirror image appears reversed left-to-right. And, she never criticizes this explanation. She takes issue in the passage only with the front-to-back explanation. Let’s keep this in mind when we consider the answers.

This explanation is █████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████████ ██ ████ ███████ ███

The author never suggests that the field-of-sight explanation is based on a desire to simplify.

17%

This explanation does ███ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ █████████████████ ███████████

Supported, because as part of describing the front-to-back explanation, the author notes that it’s based on the false premise that an object’s image in a mirror “as though it were as real and three dimensional as the original chair.” The author then criticizes this explanation in P3. Since the field-of-sight explanation is different from front-to-back, and the author does not express any criticism of the field-of-sight explanation, it’s reasonable to believe the author does not think the field-of-sight explanation relies on the same idea that an object’s image in a mirror is as real as the original object.

44%

This explanation fails ██ ████ ████ ███████ ███ █████ ██ ████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███████ ███ ██ █████████ ███████████ ██ ███ ███████

This describes the front-to-back explanation, not the field-of-sight explanation.

22%

This explanation assumes ████ ██████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ █ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ████ ████

The author never suggests the field-of-sight explanation assumes people don’t understand something.

This explanation is ████████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██████ █████ ███ ██████ ██████ █████ █████ ██ █████ ██████ ████ ██████ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ████████

The author doesn’t suggest the field-of-sight explanation is unsuccessful. She doesn’t offer any criticism of it. (She criticizes the front-to-back explanation.)

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PrepTest 140 - Section 4 - Passage 4 - Question 26

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