Self-study
Biologist: Support When bacteria of a particular species are placed in a test tube that has different areas lit with different colors of light, the bacteria move only into the areas lit with a particular shade of red. ███ ████████ ███████ ████████████ █ ████████ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ███████ ██████ ████ ███████████ ████ ████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██████ ████ █████ ██ █████ ██ ██████████ ███ ████ ██████ █████ ███████████ ██ ██████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that certain bacteria detect a particular shade of red by monitoring how much energy their chlorophyll produces. This is based on the fact that, when placed into a test tube that has different areas lit with different colors of light, the bacteria move only into areas lit with that shade of red. In addition, the bacteria’s chlorophyll allows them to produce energy more effectively from this shade of red than from any other color.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes there’s no other explanation for why the bacteria moves only to those areas that are lit with that shade of red.
22.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████ ███ ███████████ █████████
a
If the chlorophyll ██ ███████ ████ ███ █████████ ███ ███ ████████ ███ █████████ █████████ ████ ██ ██████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ████ ███ █████ ███ ████ ███ ██████████ █████ ██ ████
This strengthens the argument by helping to establish a connection between chlorophyll and moving to that shade of red.
Directionally wrong
Directionally wrong
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).
b
The bacteria show ██████ ████████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ██████████ █████ ██ ██████ █████ ████ ███ ██████████ █████ ██ ████ ████ ██ █████ ███████████ ███ ███████ ████ ██████ ████ █████ ██ █████ ███████
This is consistent with the author’s hypothesis. Because those other shades don’t produce energy as effectively, the bacteria tends not to move to those areas.
Illusory inconsistency
Illusory inconsistency
Answer is attractive because it seems to (but doesn't actually) contradict the premises or conclusion.
c
The areas of ███ ████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ██████████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ ██ ███████ ██ ████████ ████ █████ ███ ████ █████ ███████
This strengthens the argument by eliminating the alternate explanation that the bacteria are moving to the areas that are warmer rather than because of the greater energy produced by their chlorophyll.
Directionally wrong
Directionally wrong
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).
d
The bacteria show ██ ████████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ████ █████ █████ ███ ███ ██ ████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ███████████ ████████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████ █████ ██ ██ ████ ██ ███ ███ ██████
This presents evidence inconsistent with the author’s hypothesis. If the bacteria don’t move to areas lit in blue, even if those areas produce as much energy as the areas lit in the particular shade of red, this suggests the bacteria isn’t moving due to its chlorophyll’s energy.
Plausibility
Plausibility
Presenting evidence that corroborates (in Strengthen) or conflicts (in Weaken) with the author's hypothesized explanation or the predictions that follow from that explanation.
e
There are species ██ ████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████████ ███ ██ ████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██ █ ████ ████ ███ ████ █████████ ██████ ██ █████████ ███████
Other bacteria might move toward other lights for other reasons besides chlorophyll. The author never suggested that no bacteria can ever move to any lights through other methods. The conclusion is just that this particular bacteria detects the red light through chlorophyll.