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1000CR Test C Qn No 16

Expert replies
by samyak » Thu Apr 29, 2010 10:02 am
16. In 1986, the city of Los Diablos had 20 days on which air pollution reached unhealthful amounts and a smog alert was put into effect. In early 1987, new air pollution control measures were enacted, but the city had smog alerts on 31 days that year and on 39 days the following year. In 1989, however, the number of smog alerts in Los Diablos dropped to sixteen. The main air pollutants in Los Diablos are ozone and carbon monoxide, and since 1986 the levels of both have been monitored by gas spectrography.
Which of the following statements, assuming that each is true, would be LEAST helpful in explaining the air pollution levels in Los Diablos between 1986 and 1989?
(A) The 1987 air pollution control measures enacted in Los Diablos were put into effect in November of 1988.
(B) In December of 1988 a new and far more accurate gas spectrometer was invented.
(C) In February of 1989, the Pollution Control Board of Los Diablos revised the scale used to determine the amount of air pollution considered unhealthful.
(D) In 1988 the mayor of Los Diablos was found to have accepted large campaign donations from local industries and to have exempted those same industries from air pollution control measures.
(E) Excess ozone and carbon monoxide require a minimum of two years to break down naturally in the atmosphere above a given area.

I opted for A. I'm not sure why B is a better option. Please help.
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Source: — Critical Reasoning |

by iamseer » Thu Apr 29, 2010 11:04 am
We are asked which one of the options given is least helpful in explaining the levels.

1986 - 20 days - smog alert
1987 - 31 days - new air pollution measure enacted
1988 - 39 days
1989 - 16 days

E helps explain the drop in 1989
D helps explain the increase in 1988
C helps explain the drop in 1989
B helps explain nothing.... An invention does not help explain any of the levels above.
A helps explain the rise in 1988 even after new measure were enacted in 1987

So IMO answer B

HTH
"Choose to chance the rapids and dance the tides"
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by deepesh.gupta » Thu Apr 29, 2010 7:28 pm
I think B is also wrong. Use of more accurate instrument will result in accurate reading and will eliminate false alerts generated by the less accurate instruments used earlier
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by iamseer » Fri Apr 30, 2010 9:56 pm
deepesh.gupta wrote:I think B is also wrong. Use of more accurate instrument will result in accurate reading and will eliminate false alerts generated by the less accurate instruments used earlier
was invented is NOT EQUAL TO was used

HTH
"Choose to chance the rapids and dance the tides"
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by gtvisa2002 » Tue May 11, 2010 1:18 pm
iamseer wrote:
deepesh.gupta wrote:I think B is also wrong. Use of more accurate instrument will result in accurate reading and will eliminate false alerts generated by the less accurate instruments used earlier
was invented is NOT EQUAL TO was used

HTH
Very true, as Ron mentioned in the post https://www.beatthegmat.com/derderia-emp ... 20200.html, we need to concentrate on every detail.

Inveting someting doesn't mean that it is used.

Similar one in post https://www.beatthegmat.com/hare-browsing-t56886.html, in which Production and growth are analogous to Invention and Usage in this topic.

Even I thought that B perfectly explained the drop, if it makes you feel any better :-P

Thanks
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by amitverma22 » Tue May 11, 2010 11:31 pm
Trend is : Pollution level increased from 86 to 88 and then drops in 89

Statement which kind of explains the the trend(even remotely) are eliminated.
A) Explains the trend. Because control measures were put into effect towards end of 88 and hence 89 might see lesser pollution levels

B)

C)Explains the trend as something happened in beginning of 89 and this might be the cause of lesser pollution levels in 89
D)
E) Explains the trend as CO and Ozone probably broke down in 89 and hence lesser levels in 89

So A, C, E are eliminated
B) and D) does not seem to be explaining the trend.
But D) says that certain industries were exempted from air control measures in 1988. This should actually increase the pollution level in 1988. But D) does not indicate in ANY WAY why the levels come down in 1989.

But B) tells that something happened in end of 88 and hence we can attribute(with very low confidence) the level change in 89 to be the invention of spectograph.

So I would go for D).

What is the OA?
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