The word atom is derived from the Greek atomos, meaning “uncuttable,” and was popularized by Democritus as a fundamental, indivisible building block of natural matter around the turn of the 4th century BCE. Although other philosophers across the world developed similar theories, it was not until the turn of the 19th century that the existence of atoms was definitively proved by science. However, at the turn of the 20th century, J.J. Thompson demonstrated the existence of
subatomic particles, and these were in turn found to be reducible into elementary (or fundamental) particles. These discoveries, dividing what was previously considered indivisible, have revolutionized physics and spawned a number of subfields. In 2010, the Large Hadron Collider (a hadron being a type of subatomic particle) gained international attention for creating the highest-energy man-made particle collisions. It is the hope of particle physicists that experiments using the collider will be able to shed light on a number of fundamental questions about the laws of nature.
Which of the following statements is NOT supported by the passage?
A. The theory of atoms was proposed long before it was proved.
B. The hadron is not the smallest type of particle.
C. Students of particle physics hope to answer questions about the laws of nature.
D. The atom was first discovered by Democritus.
E. The theory of atoms was proposed by multiple philosophers
Project CR Butler: Critical Reasoning
For all CR butler Questions Click HereThe correct answer to this question is not supported in the passage, meaning it either contradicts the passage or falls outside the scope. The four wrong answers are supported. The first two sentences of the passage describe the origin of the theory of atoms prior to their scientific discovery, which allows you to eliminate choice (A); furthermore, the author mentions that “philosophers across the world developed similar theories,” which supports—and thus eliminates— choice (E). However, the author describes Democritus as having “popularized” the theory of atoms, which is not the same as first discovering the atom; based on this,
. Choices (B) and (C) both relate to the discussion of subatomic particles, but because elementary particles are smaller than subatomic particles (an example of the latter being the hadron), you may eliminate (B). The conclusion of the passage rules out choice (C) in the description of the importance of experiments using the Large Hadron Collider.