Hello Sathya

It is not comparing the Nuclear fussion with reactors ... it is comparing the Nuclear fussion - The process with the process in the reactor.

In the Sun, the nuclie of the atom megers, whereas in the reactor, the nuclie of the atoms split.

Nuclear fusion is the force that powers the Sun, the
stars, and hydrogen bombs, merging the nuclei of
atoms and not splitting them apart, as in nuclear
reactors.

If still in doubts, let me know. (Feel free to ask Satya ....we would be more than glad to explain you till you get it )
Regards
_________________

Giving another SHOT

Pardon me... I did not give the answer.... The answer should be C.

Nuclear fusion is the force that powers the Sun, the
stars, and hydrogen bombs, merging the nuclei of
atoms and not splitting them apart, as in nuclear
reactors.
(take out the sentence #IS THE FORCE THAT POWERS THE SUN...BOMBS#) and then analyse..... the clauses that come in between should not alter the intended meaning, thats the catch.

(Look for parallelism and verb agreements - tips .... merging, spliting - this should eliminate some of them, in this case D and E). Now, A,B, C remain.

The sentence is comparing the 2 process, hence, words like rather, better, greater etc... to be used.

Nuclear fusion is

(A) merging the nuclei of atoms and not splitting
them apart, as in nuclear reactors - Wrong - This means that the Fusion process in the Sun is merging whereas the Fusion process in Reactors are spilting. But, spliting in not nuclear fusion, it is fission. Only one process is dicussed here, wherease the comparision is between 2 processes.

(B) merging the nuclei of atoms instead of splitting
them apart, like nuclear reactors - Wrong. Same case as above.

(C) merging the nuclei of atoms rather than split-
ting them apart, as nuclear reactors do - Correct. solves the parallelism and comparision factor.

(D) and merges the nuclei of atoms but does not
split them apart, as is done in unclear reactors - Wrong, not parallel

(E) and merges the nuclei of atoms, unlike atomic
reactors that split them apart. Wrong. Not parallel.


I hope this helped. Let me know.

Regards
_________________

Giving another SHOT

Just my 2 cents here
A) use of conjunction "and" is wrong and does not contrast the two processes of merging(sun) vs splitting(nuclear reactors)
B) wrongly compares "merging" to "nuclear reactors". Furthermore, "instead of" is a conjunction and should have been replaced by "rather on". When preceding a verb, use "rather than" instead of "instead of". See Praet's explanation on "instead of" vs "rather than" http://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2458
C) properly uses "rather than" as a conjunction and makes the right contrast between the two processes of merging(sun) vs splitting(nuclear reactors). "do" is necessary because it ensures that it is not "the nuclear reactors" that split apart but rather, "do" the action of splitting apart.
D) I don't think this one has to do with parallelism. This sentence introduces 2 conjunctions is grammatically wrong:
Nuclear fusion is the force that powers the Sun, the stars, and hydrogen bombs, and merges the nuclei of atoms but does not split them apart, as is done in unclear reactors
We see above that the 3 elements[in red] the 2 conjunctions "and" and "but" are joining. Having 2 conjunctions in the sentence makes it unecessarily wordy and confusing. Furthermore, "but does not split them apart" should have been replaced by "rather than splits them apart". It better contrasts 2 actions; that of merging vs that of splitting.
E) erroneously comparing "nuclear fusion", a process, to "nuclear reactors", a device
_________________

Best Regards,

Paul

Hi Sathya

E is not correct. C fit the bill perfect.

Could you tell me the source of the this question?. Perhaps, the OA is wrong. The source will justify.

Regards
_________________

Giving another SHOT

ad hominem
Unless someone can defend E, I say it is wrong.
_________________

Best Regards,

Paul

[X is the force] that powers the sun............and merges the [atomic]

I think this seems the most parallel. E is better than D.

I also couldnt understand why E has atomic reactors.


- ash.
_________________

ash
________________________
I'm crossing the bridge.........

I'm getting silly thoughts !


could it be because atomic reactors split atoms into nuclei ........and nuclear fusion merges them ???

Also it seems strange that "nuclear fusion" [= a force] is being compared to nuclear and atomic reactors !!!!

Somebody help me

- ash
_________________

ash
________________________
I'm crossing the bridge.........