amino acid

This topic has expert replies
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 113
Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2008 9:43 pm
Location: Mumbai
Thanked: 1 times

amino acid

by sogmat » Tue Apr 14, 2009 6:07 pm
Measurements of the extent of amino-acid decomposition in fragments of eggshell found at archaeological sites in such places as southern Africa can be used to obtain accurate dates for sites up to 200,000 years old. Because the decomposition is slower in cool climates, the technique can be used to obtain accurate dates for sites almost a million years old in cooler regions.
The information above provides the most support for which one of the following conclusions?
(A) The oldest archaeological sites are not in southern Africa, but rather in cooler regions of the world.
(B) The amino-acid decomposition that enables eggshells to be used in dating does not take place in other organic matter found at ancient archaeological sites.
(C) If the site being dated had been subject to large unsuspected climatic fluctuations during the time the eggshell has been at the site, application of the technique is less likely to yield accurate results.
(D) After 200,000 years in a cool climate, less than one-fifth of the amino acids in a fragment of eggshell that would provide material for dating with the technique will have decomposed and will thus no longer be suitable for examination by the technique.
(E) Fragments of eggshell are more likely to be found at ancient archaeological sites in warm regions of the world than at such sites in cooler regions.
oa c
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

Legendary Member
Posts: 2467
Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2008 6:14 pm
Thanked: 331 times
Followed by:11 members

by cramya » Tue Apr 14, 2009 8:00 pm
c is right.

Basically the argument tries to capture the point that in cooler climates the amino acid technique can help us obtain accurate dates for sites almost a million years old .


If the site being dated had been subject to large unsuspected climatic fluctuations during the time the eggshell has been at the site, application of the technique is less likely to yield accurate results

This would mean the temperature fluctauted between hot and cold thereby reducing the amino acid technique's effectiveness to how far it can date thereby reducing the accuracy

Hope this helps!

D looks very tempting but if u do the math it says less than 1/5 but it should be more since its less than a million to begin with.

Anyways to work out the math and determine the staements accuracy we have to assume a lot of things which is not ok for draw a conclusion question.

we must always be refer back to whats given in the stimulus and convince ourselves on the answer

Parapharse of any of the premises or a logical consequence of one or more parts of the stimulus will mostly be the best answer i.e no new information apart from whats given in the stimulus must be assumed or needed to answer.


Hope this helps!

Regards,
CR

User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 36
Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2008 10:14 pm
Location: Bangalore
Thanked: 2 times
GMAT Score:390

Amino Acid depends on temperature

by mharv » Tue Apr 14, 2009 11:15 pm
<< Just to add to Cramya's explanation, the question is asking for a concluson given the premise that "decomposition takes place only in cool conditions">>

A talks about southern africa, and argument is about amino-acid decomposition and temperature

B is talking about organic matter - not in scope

C is saying that the technique cannot be used if the climatic conditions vary, so is a valid conclusion based on argument

D is a trick answer, they give you 200,000 as a number to ensure you pick this. But amino-acid decomposition is based on temperature, and not necessarily time. Invalid co-relation

E is wrong
Regards,
Arvind

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 100
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2014 11:14 am

by Brad.C » Sun May 15, 2016 6:41 am
I think C is the best in this case.