In 1986, the city of Los Diablos had 20 days ...

[Vincen]

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.

The OA is B.

Option B is really the LEAST helpful? What about the option E?

[DavidG@VeritasPrep]

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.

The OA is B.

Option B is really the LEAST helpful? What about the option E?

The key here, as it often is with CR questions, is detail in the language. B: In December of 1988 a new and far more accurate gas spectrometer was invented. Well, that's interesting that . more accurate spectrometer was invented. Was it actually used? We don't know. Maybe post-invention there's all kinds of regulatory hoops a manufacturer needs to jump through before it can make a new product available.

As for E, this would help explain the supposed drop in air pollution from '87 to 89 without seeing a drop in '88. If it took two years for the ozone and carbon monoxide to breakdown, then even if less pollution was produced in '87, you wouldn't have seen the benefit until the old pollutants broke down two years later.