imnk wrote:
Under normal conditions, a single AA NiCd battery will power a smoke detector for a minimum of 60 days. The current county regulation requiring all hospitals to replace the AA NiCd batteries in their smoke detectors every 45 days is both illogical and unduly harms the environment. The current replacement schedule could safely be extended to 60 days thereby decreasing the number of environment-damaging batteries requiring disposal.
Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the above conclusion ?
A. The chemicals used in certain medical treatments can affect the operation of a smoke detector
B.Smoke detectors can normally operate on a single AA NiCd battery for longer than 60 days.
C.The county's hospital administrations would prefer to replace smoke detector batteries on a rotating schedule rather than in a single batch.
D.The results of a recent poll indicate that over half of the county's hospital administrators supported a change to the current replacement schedule.
E.Most homeowners replace their smoke detector batteries only four times per year.
C should have been the answer. I couldn't understand the reasoning behind A as the OA.
Stat A : states that chemicals affect smoke detectors and not batteries.
So crossedStat B : This statement only adds to the stated facts and does not weaken the argument.
So crossedStat C : This statement states that the batteries are preferred to be replaced on a rotating schedule rather than as a batch. So here there is a possibility that each battery is actually replaced after 60 days and since it is a rotating schedule the replacement between two batteries could be 45 days.
So selected.Stat D: Half of the administrators supported the proposal while half could have rejected the proposal.
So crossed.Stat E : Completely irrelevant.
So crossed