crejoc wrote:
Scientists have long searched for magnetic monopoles, hypothetical particles left over from the Big Bang. In 1982, a detector at Stanford recorded a single event that seemed to be the passage of a monopole. However, despite the fact that the Stanford experimental design has withstood all serious challenges, no other detectors have ever recorded similar events. Even though one team of physicists has recently claimed to have found indirect evidence that magnetic monopoles must exist, the consensus of the physics community is that monopoles, if they do exist, have not yet been discovered.
In the argument above, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?
(A) The first is a difficulty that contradicts the status quo view of the majority of physicists; the second is that status quo view.
(B) The first is a comment that supports a minority position among physicists; the second is an alternative to that minority position.
(C) The first is evidence strengthening an unrepeated experimental result; the second is a claim supported by that evidence.
(D) The first is an assertion that undermines a hypothesis commonly thought to be unproven; the second is that hypothesis.
(E) The first is a corroboration of an assertion that lacks experimental support; the second is that assertion.
This question is an Analyze the Argument Structure question. The best approach is to identify the conclusion of the argument, to characterize how each boldface statement relates to that conclusion, and then to eliminate incorrect answer choices. The conclusion of the argument is the consensus view of the physics community that monopoles have not yet been discovered, whether or not they exist. The first boldface is a premise opposing that conclusion, since the first boldface supports the experiment that recorded the presence of a monopole. The second boldface is the minority view that monopoles are certain to exist. Thus, the first boldface supports the second.
(A) The first boldface does in fact contradict the status quo view of the majority of physicists, i.e. that monopoles have not yet been discovered. However, the second boldface is not that status quo view, but in fact the minority view.
(B) Just as in answer (A), the first boldface does support a minority position among physicists, but the second boldface is not an alternative to that minority position – it is that minority position.
(C) CORRECT. The first boldface provides evidence in support of an unrepeated experimental result: since “no other detectors have ever recorded similar events,” the Stanford experiment’s result is unique. The second boldface makes the claim that monopoles must exist. This claim is supported by the Stanford experiment and thus by the first boldface.
(D) The first boldface does not undermine a hypothesis that most physicists think is unproven. Rather, the first boldface supports the hypothesis, as yet unaccepted by most physicists, that monopoles must exist. The description of the second boldface as that hypothesis is accurate.
(E) The first boldface does not corroborate an assertion that lacks experimental support, since the assertion that monopoles must exist does have support from the Stanford experiment. The description of the second boldface as that assertion is accurate.