Question 3
Bob2018
3rd question,,,,can anyone pls explain?
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3. Which of the following, if true, would be most useful in supporting the conclusions drawn from recent observations about globular clusters?
The conclusion drawn from recent observations about globular clusters is that
The Milky Way may have formed from the collapse of many clusters into a single galaxy, over a long period of time. Here's how this conclusion is presented in the structure of the passage:
- P1: The Milky Way is formed of many (~125) globular clusters distributed in a halo around the galactic nucleus. This distribution holds vital clues to how the galaxy was formed.
- P2: Conventional theory says: The Milky Way was formed in a short period of time (~200 million years), from the collapse of a single spherical cloud of gas. This implies that all stars in the halo should be nearly the same age.
- P3: Bolte has found discrepancies in the age of stars as large at 2 billion years. His findings challenge the conventional theory.
- P4: Larsons' "renegade" theory explains these discrepancies by arguing that the Milky Way was actually formed from multiple gas clouds. Toomre's models support this theory by suggesting how multiple galaxies could merge into one.
The best answer choice will back up these recent observations of age discrepancies within the galactic halo (wow, I am
so glad I got to say "galactic halo") or reinforce the "renegade" theory by explaining how multiple galaxies could become one.
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(A) There is firm evidence that the absolute age of the Milky Way galaxy is between 10 and 17 billion years.
Why do we care about the absolute age of the Milky Way as a whole? We're looking for information about the age of stars in the halo. This is irrelevant to the question being asked, so we we'll eliminate (A).
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(B) A survey reveals that a galaxy close to the Milky Way galaxy contains globular clusters of ages close to the age of Palomar 12.
We're only concerned about explaining age discrepancies within the Milky Way galaxy. Knowing the age of clusters in another galaxy altogether (especially if this knowledge doesn't tell us anything about how they fit into the bigger picture for that galaxy) won't help us strengthen or weaken the conclusion we care about, so let's eliminate (B).
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(C) A mathematical model proves that small gas clouds move in regular patterns.
Without more information about how these regular patterns result (or don't result) in collisions and the loss of orbital energy, we can't tie this model back to the theory of many galaxies becoming one Milky Way. Let's eliminate (C).
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(D) Space probes indicate that the stars in the Milky Way galaxy are composed of several different types of gas.
As with choice (C), knowing that there are different
types of gas doesn't help us bridge the logical gap between many galaxies existing and many galaxies merging. Eliminate (D).
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(E) A study of over 1,500 individual stars in the halo of the Milky Way galaxy indicates wide discrepancies in their ages.
This choice explicitly reinforces the conclusion by telling us that many individual stars
in the halo of the Milky Way have
wide discrepancies in age. If true, we've just taken the example of Palomar and multiplied by it by 1,500. This adds a great amount of quantitative support to Bolte's recent findings. It directly attacks the conventional theory by showing exactly how much variance we're seeing in the age of stars in this halo. It's by far the best answer choice, so we'll stick with (E) and move on.
Question 5
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5. The passage suggests that Toomre's work complements Larson's theory because it:
In the final paragraph, the author presents "renegade" theories that could explain the large age discrepancies between globular clusters. Larson's theory is that hundreds of small gas clouds, rather than a single gas cloud, formed what we observe today as one galaxy: the Milky Way. Toomre's computer modeling suggests that multiple spiral galaxies could indeed merge into a single galaxy. Larson's work and Toomre's work reinforce each other, because both illustrate the same theoretical statement: Multiple galaxies can become one, over time.
ShashankDave
I got Q5 wrong. I chose E as my answer. Somebody please help.The computer models suggest that the ideas of the scientist also apply to spiral galaxies not just within a galaxy. This clearly means that there is a wider applicability. I don't disagree with the OA but I was confused between the two and got this wrong. Is my approach wrong here? Does "wide applicability" need to be explicitly stated in the passage for E to be correct? what did I do wrong?
Now that we've clarified the purpose of this paragraph, let's take a closer look at these two choices.
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(D) provides theoretical support for the ideas suggested by Larson
As you know, (D) most closely captures what we've just read. Toomre's models suggest that multiple galaxies could lose enough energy to merge into one. This provides support for the Larson's big-picture theory (multiple gas clouds becoming one system) as well as the specific process at the heart of that theory (losing orbital energy).
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(E) expands Larson's theory to make it more widely applicable
The key words here aren't
only "widely applicable." We also have to decide whether Toomre's work is really
expanding Larson's theory, because we're being asked how Toomre's work is complementing Larson's. We should eliminate (E) if either of these phrases aren't supported by the passage.
Let's recall why the author brought up Larson and Toomre in the first place: Both works suggest that many galaxies (whether worded as "hundreds of small gas clouds" or "closely interacting spiral galaxies") could become one. So the point of modeling spiral galaxies isn't to look at one galaxy and apply observations about it to many different kinds. The point is to illustrate how these multiple galaxies could have merged into a single galaxy.
Toomre's modeling shows how orbital energy plays a role in this merge, but it
does not expand the theory of "many become one"...nor does it show us other ways that theory can be applied (for instance, to things that aren't galaxies at all). That's why we eliminate (E). It's more about matching the author's reason for bringing up another person's work than it is about matching specific keywords from choice to passage.
I hope this helps you... um, feel like you're surrounded by a galactic halo...?