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Houseflies kept in small containers at normal room temperature lived

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Houseflies kept in small containers at normal room temperature lived [#permalink] New post   08 Feb 2022, 02:30
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Houseflies kept in small containers at normal room temperature lived for about 50 days. Houseflies kept in identical containers but at a significantly cooler temperature lived longer than 6 months. Apart from longevity, the only difference detected between the groups was that the flies in the colder environment consumed oxygen much more slowly than did those kept at room temperature.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain the difference in the houseflies’ life spans?

(A) For flies kept at room temperature, the larger the container the higher the rate of oxygen consumption.

(B) As a fly consumes oxygen, its cells produce a toxic substance that accumulates in the cells until it kills the fly.

(C) There were more containers of flies kept in the colder environment than in the warmer one.

(D) The spiders that prey on flies consume oxygen more slowly in cold weather than in warm weather.

(E) Flies kept in small containers cannot fly, although flying greatly increases a fly’s rate of oxygen consumption.
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Re: Houseflies kept in small containers at normal room temperature lived [#permalink] New post   08 Feb 2022, 04:55
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Key information takeaways:
1. The houseflies kept in the container at room temperature lived for only about 50 days while the ones kept in idential containers at colder temperature lived for about 6 months.

This raises a natural question, WHY would you keep the flies in a container in the first place? Also, would they not die because of lack of oxygen? Yes they do, eventually, but at different times. How is that possible? This is precisely what is answered in the next takeaway.

2. The rate at which the flies in the container kept at a colder temperature consumed Oxygen was slower than the rate at which the flies in the container kept at the room temperature did.

So the oxygen availability was probably same, but because one group consumed slowly it outlived the other. Very reasonable. And clearly explains what's happening here. Let us now look at the options.

Quote:
(A) For flies kept at room temperature, the larger the container the higher the rate of oxygen consumption.
The two flies were kept in identical containers for the purpose of this study, so we're honestly not concerned about what would happen if one of them had a larger container, as it would not help us understand the difference in the lifespans we are seeing currently. Eliminate A.

Quote:
(B) As a fly consumes oxygen, its cells produce a toxic substance that accumulates in the cells until it kills the fly.
Perfect! You consume oxygen and your cells produce a toxic substance and that ultimately kills you. The faster you consume oxygen the faster your cells would produce the toxic substance the faster you would die. Clearly explains why flies at colder temperatures who had lower rate of oxygen consumption outlived their peers. Keep option B, most likely our answer.

Quote:
(C) There were more containers of flies kept in the colder environment than in the warmer one
We are not interested in the (relative) magnitude of the study. Even if there were 1000 or merely 1 container of each, the results would've been true regardless. Eliminate C.

Quote:
(D) The spiders that prey on flies consume oxygen more slowly in cold weather than in warm weather.
How can we use this as an explanation to justify the difference in lifespans when the flies were observed being trapped in the containers all by themselves under no influence of their predators? Eliminate D.

Quote:
(E) Flies kept in small containers cannot fly, although flying greatly increases a fly’s rate of oxygen consumption.
Again we are not concerned about what would happen if the flies were kept in containers of different sizes as that would not help us explain the current difference that we've observed under identical size conditions. Eliminate E.

Hence, our answer is option B.

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Houseflies kept in small containers at normal room temperature lived [#permalink] New post   08 Feb 2022, 19:22
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Bunuel wrote:
Houseflies kept in small containers at normal room temperature lived for about 50 days. Houseflies kept in identical containers but at a significantly cooler temperature lived longer than 6 months. Apart from longevity, the only difference detected between the groups was that the flies in the colder environment consumed oxygen much more slowly than did those kept at room temperature.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain the difference in the houseflies’ life spans?

(A) For flies kept at room temperature, the larger the container the higher the rate of oxygen consumption.

(B) As a fly consumes oxygen, its cells produce a toxic substance that accumulates in the cells until it kills the fly.

(C) There were more containers of flies kept in the colder environment than in the warmer one.

(D) The spiders that prey on flies consume oxygen more slowly in cold weather than in warm weather.

(E) Flies kept in small containers cannot fly, although flying greatly increases a fly’s rate of oxygen consumption.


Argument
In a similar container, Colder temperature leads to increase in longevity of the fly. Also, colder temperature led to more Oxygen consumption

Question type
Explain the discrepancy - Why fly lived longer in colder temperature.

(A) For flies kept at room temperature, the larger the container the higher the rate of oxygen consumption. --> Size of container is not an issue here. Both time, containers were small --> Incorrect

(B) As a fly consumes oxygen, its cells produce a toxic substance that accumulates in the cells until it kills the fly. --> This can be one of the possible explanations --> CORRECT

(C) There were more containers of flies kept in the colder environment than in the warmer one. --> number of conatainer is not a part of the argument --> OUT OF SCOPE --> Incorrect

(D) The spiders that prey on flies consume oxygen more slowly in cold weather than in warm weather. --> spiders are not a part of the argument --> OUT OF SCOPE --> Incorrect

(E) Flies kept in small containers cannot fly, although flying greatly increases a fly’s rate of oxygen consumption.-->Size of container is not an issue here. Both time, containers were small --> Incorrect­
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Re: Houseflies kept in small containers at normal room temperature lived [#permalink] New post   11 Feb 2022, 10:00
Argument:
- Houseflies in small containers at normal temperature lived for about 50 days
- Houseflies in identical containers at cooler temperatures lived longer than 6 months
- The only difference between the groups (apart from long life span) was that flies in cooler containers (the ones who loved longer) consumed oxygen more slowly than the flies in the container at normal temperature

Question: Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain the difference in the houseflies’ life spans?

My thought process: So the only difference we see is the rate of oxygen consumed. So we can safely say that the consumption of oxygen has something to do with the life span. The correct answer choice will elaborate more on oxygen and how it affects the flies.

Quote:
(A) For flies kept at room temperature, the larger the container the higher the rate of oxygen consumption.

We are already told that both the containers were of the same size. So what happens if the container at room temperature gets larger does not help us understand the difference in the results of the two containers.

Quote:
(B) As a fly consumes oxygen, its cells produce a toxic substance that accumulates in the cells until it kills the fly.

Correct. As mentioned above, we know that the rate of consuming oxygen was the only difference. Looking at Choice B we see that oxygen = toxic substance = death. So lower oxygen = lower toxic substance = longer life span.

Quote:
(C) There were more containers of flies kept in the colder environment than in the warmer one.

How does this fact help us understand the result of the experiment? Okay, we kept more number of containers that had the colder environment. The argument has given us no information to connect number of containers to the longer/shorter life span.

Quote:
(D) The spiders that prey on flies consume oxygen more slowly in cold weather than in warm weather.

Completely irrelevant. We are interested in houseflies.

Quote:
(E) Flies kept in small containers cannot fly, although flying greatly increases a fly’s rate of oxygen consumption.

This choice affects BOTH the containers since the size of both were IDENTICAL. So knowing a fact that is common to both the containers isn't going to help us the difference in life spans.

Correct choice: (B)
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Re: Houseflies kept in small containers at normal room temperature lived [#permalink] New post   16 Feb 2022, 08:45
Houseflies kept in small containers at normal room temperature lived for about 50 days. Houseflies kept in identical containers but at a significantly cooler temperature lived longer than 6 months. Apart from longevity, the only difference detected between the groups was that the flies in the colder environment consumed oxygen much more slowly than did those kept at room temperature.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain the difference in the houseflies’ life spans?

(A) For flies kept at room temperature, the larger the container the higher the rate of oxygen consumption.

(B) As a fly consumes oxygen, its cells produce a toxic substance that accumulates in the cells until it kills the fly.

(C) There were more containers of flies kept in the colder environment than in the warmer one.

(D) The spiders that prey on flies consume oxygen more slowly in cold weather than in warm weather.

(E) Flies kept in small containers cannot fly, although flying greatly increases a fly’s rate of oxygen consumption.

Which one of the options fills the gap that the argument jumps?
All the options revolve around the size(A,E) or number(C), or irrelevant factors(D) except B which properly helps us identify why such a difference in the houseflies’ life spans exists.

Answer B.
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Re: Houseflies kept in small containers at normal room temperature lived [#permalink]
16 Feb 2022, 08:45
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