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Uranium

by ranjeet75 » Mon Dec 05, 2011 9:29 pm
Most of the world's supply of uranium currently comes from mines. It is possible to extract uranium from seawater, but the cost of doing so is greater than the price that uranium fetches on the world market. Therefore, until the cost of extracting uranium from seawater can somehow be reduced, this method of obtaining uranium is unlikely to be commercially viable.

Which of the following would it be most useful to determine in evaluating the argument?
A. Whether the uranium in deposits on land is rapidly being depleted
B. Whether most uranium is used near where it is mined
C. Whether there are any technological advances that show promise of reducing the cost of extracting uranium from seawater
D. Whether the total amount of uranium in seawater is significantly greater than the total amount of uranium on land
E. Whether uranium can be extracted from freshwater at a cost similar to the cost of extracting it from seawater

OA is [spoiler]A[/spoiler] but I opted [spoiler]C[/spoiler]
Please explain the reasoning.
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by chieftang » Mon Dec 05, 2011 9:45 pm
ranjeet75 wrote:Most of the world's supply of uranium currently comes from mines. It is possible to extract uranium from seawater, but the cost of doing so is greater than the price that uranium fetches on the world market. Therefore, until the cost of extracting uranium from seawater can somehow be reduced, this method of obtaining uranium is unlikely to be commercially viable.

Which of the following would it be most useful to determine in evaluating the argument?
A. Whether the uranium in deposits on land is rapidly being depleted
B. Whether most uranium is used near where it is mined
C. Whether there are any technological advances that show promise of reducing the cost of extracting uranium from seawater
D. Whether the total amount of uranium in seawater is significantly greater than the total amount of uranium on land
E. Whether uranium can be extracted from freshwater at a cost similar to the cost of extracting it from seawater

OA is A but I opted C
Please explain the reasoning.
It is A. Reread the argument: until the cost of extracting uranium from seawater can somehow be reduced, this method of obtaining uranium is unlikely to be commercially viable. C does not affect this argument one way or another. The technological advances that might show promise still need to come to fruition in order to be relevant.
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by tuanquang269 » Tue Dec 06, 2011 8:19 am
A. Whether the uranium in deposits on land is rapidly being depleted
D. Whether the total amount of uranium in seawater is significantly greater than the total amount of uranium on land

In evaluating argument, we need to determine what we are evaluating. In this question, it is the price of uranium extract from seawater.

IMO, only choice A and D affect the price of uranium from seawater because choice C talk about the quality of uranium. Choice D make us think that this is the comparison in supply of uranium from between land and seawater. But this supply is not the processed products that the market demand. These uranium are unprocessed. So, choice D is incorrect. Only A is the correct one.

In choice C, it talk about the technology. Whether exist promise technology does not mean that the until the cost of extracting uranium from seawater can be reduced immediately. We have to wait until this technology can be used widely.
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