Although wood-burning stoves are more efficient than open fireplaces

Question

Although wood-burning stoves are more efficient than open fireplaces, they are also more dangerous. The smoke that wood-burning stoves release up the chimney is cooler than the smoke from an open flame. Thus it travels more slowly and deposits more creosote, a flammable substance that can clog a chimney—or worse, ignite inside it.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the augment?

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the augment?

(A) The most efficient wood-burning stoves produce less creosote than do many open fireplaces.

(B) The amount of creosote produced depends not only on the type of flame but on how often the stove or fireplace is used.

(C) Open fireplaces pose more risk of severe accidents inside the home than do wood-burning stoves.

(D) Open fireplaces also produce a large amount of creosote residue.

(E) Homeowners in warm climates rarely use fireplaces or wood-burning stoves.

ArunSharma12 · Answer

Conclusion: wood-burning stoves are more dangerous than open fireplaces. Rest of the passage is trying to convey dangers posed by wood-burning stoves We need something that describes that open fireplaces stoves are equally or more dangerous than wood-burning stoves

(A) The most efficient wood-burning stoves produce less creosote than do many open fireplaces.
 This is taken care of in the passage. Passages states although more efficient wood-burning stoves are more dangerous.

(B) The amount of creosote produced depends not only on the type of flame but on how often the stove or fireplace is used.
 This is not relevant to the reasoning

(C) Open fireplaces pose more risk of severe accidents inside the home than do wood-burning stoves.
 This highlights that Open fireplaces are more dangerous than wood-burning stoves

(D) Open fireplaces also produce a large amount of creosote residue.
 This does not clarifies the impact of amount of creosote residue with regard to the wood-burning stoves

(E) Homeowners in warm climates rarely use fireplaces or wood-burning stoves.
 can be safely ignored, out of scope for this passage 
Ans: C

exc4libur · Answer

arg
=stoves are more efficient than fires
=but they are also more dangerous
=stoves release cooler smoke than fires
=this means more creo deposits which can ignite home

wkn
ans (C) if the comparison is inside the home, then fireplaces are even more dangerous than stoves.

chaitralirr · Answer

Although wood-burning stoves are more efficient than open fireplaces, they are also more dangerous. The smoke that wood-burning stoves release up the chimney is cooler than the smoke from an open flame. Thus it travels more slowly and deposits more creosote, a flammable substance that can clog a chimney—or worse, ignite inside it.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the augment?

Stimulus: Although wood burning stoves are most efficient than open fire paces they are also more dangerous. The smoke that wood burning stoves release up the chimney is cooler than the smoke from the open flame thus it travels more slowly and deposits more creosote a flammable substance that could clog a chimney it or ignite in it.

IMO C it states that open fire produce more severe accidents than wooden stoves.

IMO C it states that open fire produce more severe accidents than wooden stoves.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the augment?

(A) The most efficient wood-burning stoves produce less creosote than do many open fireplaces.

(B) The amount of creosote produced depends not only on the type of flame but on how often the stove or fireplace is used.

(C) Open fireplaces pose more risk of severe accidents inside the home than do wood-burning stoves.

(D) Open fireplaces also produce a large amount of creosote residue.

(E) Homeowners in warm climates rarely use fireplaces or wood-burning stoves.

Josephine784 · Answer

Ok, alright - I looked again and saw that Steve previously addressed you about Q11 in another post, so it must be Q25 you are getting some information about here.

In this inquiry, the creator reveals to us that wood consuming ovens are "increasingly perilous" than open chimneys. He at that point enlightens us regarding creosote stores - wood consuming ovens store more creosote than open chimneys, and creosote is risky in light of the fact that it can obstruct a fireplace and even reason a fire inside the stack. That sounds risky!

To debilitate this contention, we again need to recognize and concentrate on the end. That is in the initial sentence - he is attempting to demonstrate that wood consuming ovens are increasingly risky. Our prephrase could be as basic as "no they aren't", yet since he told us one way that makes the ovens increasingly risky, we may have an all the more remarkable prephrase if we somehow managed to state "in some other way, chimneys are progressively perilous". Anything that demonstrates chimneys to be more risky than wood ovens will debilitate the contention introduced by the check here.

Answer C is the one in particular that presents chimneys as being progressively hazardous - they represent a more serious danger of extreme mishaps in the home. It's not about creosote by any stretch of the imagination - it's a very surprising risk. That answer doesn't obliterate the contention - creosote may in any case be the greatest risk out there - however it doesn't need to wreck it, it just needs to debilitate it, and it does that.

Answer B doesn't present a chimney related risk, which is the thing that we truly need here. Rather, it discusses creosote all the more for the most part, and it gives us data that could apply similarly to ovens and chimneys. That won't help us to subvert the case that, of the two, ovens are increasingly hazardous.

I trust that cleared things up!

yashikaaggarwal · Answer

Efficient and Dangerous: wood-burning stoves > open fireplaces

1) The smoke that wood-burning stoves release up the chimney is cooler than the smoke from an open flame. 
2) Thus it deposits more creosote, a flammable substance that can clog a chimney—or worse, ignite inside it.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the augment?

(A) The most efficient wood-burning stoves produce less creosote than do many open fireplaces. ( No parameter given to determine that wooden burning stoves produces less creosote than open fireplaces.) (OUT of Scope)

(B) The amount of creosote produced depends not only on the type of flame but on how often the stove or fireplace is used. (Nothing mentioned regarding the usage and type of flame, Irrelevant)

(C) Open fireplaces pose more risk of severe accidents inside the home than do wood-burning stoves. (This weakens the argument as even though wooden stoves might process more creosote, it's still safer than using open fireplaces in home) (Correct)

(D) Open fireplaces also produce a large amount of creosote residue. (Same as A, no parameter given to determine the production of creosote residue) (incorrect)

(E) Homeowners in warm climates rarely use fireplaces or wood-burning stoves. (No such data given) (out of scope)

Answer is C

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unraveled · Answer

Although wood-burning stoves are more efficient than open fireplaces, they are also more dangerous. The smoke that wood-burning stoves release up the chimney is cooler than the smoke from an open flame. Thus it travels more slowly and deposits more creosote, a flammable substance that can clog a chimney—or worse, ignite inside it.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the augment?

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the augment?

(A) The most efficient wood-burning stoves  produce less creosote than  do many open fireplaces. - WRONG. Still the claim in blue text holds.

(B) The amount of  creosote produced depends not only on the type of flame but on how often the stove or fireplace is used . - WRONG. 2nd best option here.

(C) Open fireplaces  pose more risk of severe accidents inside the home than  do wood-burning stoves. - CORRECT. So, fire inside the chimney is safer than the open fireplaces.

(D) Open fireplaces  also produce a large amount of creosote residue . - WRONG. Irrelevant.

(E) Homeowners in warm climates  rarely use fireplaces or wood-burning stoves . - WRONG. Out of scope.

Answer C.

agrasan · Answer

Hi experts  KarishmaB   MartyMurray   DmitryFarber

(C) Open fireplaces pose more risk of severe accidents inside the home than do wood-burning stoves.

I had rejected (C) and still don't understand how it is correct. My reasoning was following:

If we say students in class A are smarter than students in class B. We mean that  average  level of smartness is higher in A than B, it doesn't imply that every student in A is smarter than B. 
If I think along same line for the given question and argument, wood burning stoves are more dangerous than open fireplaces, it should be on average level and it is possible that it is less dangerous "inside homes". Thus, we can infer (C) and it doesn't seem a new information to weaken the argument.

(B) The amount of creosote produced depends not only on the type of flame but on how often the stove or fireplace is used.

I had selected (B) as it says there is another factor apart from flame type which is not mentioned in the argument and contribute to the danger, thus, weakens the argument.

Please let me know where I am going wrong here.

KarishmaB · Answer

Focus on conclusion: W ood-burning stoves are more dangerous than open fireplaces. The author supports it by saying that stoves deposit more creosote inside the chimney (which could lead to blocking the chimney or igniting it). So he gives one aspect in which stoves are more dangerous than fireplaces. (B) The amount of creosote produced depends not only on the type of flame but on how often the stove or fireplace is used. Doesn't give any point of distinction between stove and fireplace. It mentions another factor but are the two different with regard to this factor, it doesn't say. So it has no impact on the conclusion. It needs to weaken that stove is more harmful than the fireplace. It had to say that fireplaces are used more often to be meaningful. (C) Open fireplaces pose more risk of severe accidents inside the home than do wood-burning stoves. If we consider their safety inside the home (say chances of catching fire or impact of smoke etc), then we see that fireplaces are more dangerous. Then are stoves more dangerous than fireplaces? Creates a doubt in our minds. The author gave a factor which made stoves more hazardous. Option (C) gives a factor which makes fireplaces more hazardous. Then it makes us doubt the author's blanket conclusion: stoves are more dangerous than open fireplaces. That is why (C) is correct. Answer (C) Discussion on Weaken Questions: https://youtu.be/EhZ8FKkfy0k

agrasan · Answer

Thanks  KarishmaB  for this detailed response.
Could you please help me understand what was wrong with my thought process? I am still not clear why my thinking was wrong.

I eliminated (C) as I thought we can infer (C) from the author's conclusion. 
 If we say class A students are smarter than class B students. We mean that  average  level of smartness is higher in A than B, it doesn't imply that every student in A is smarter than B.
If I think along same line on (C) for the conclusion, wood burning stoves are more dangerous than open fireplaces, it should be on average level and it is possible that it is less dangerous  "inside homes".

Is my reasoning wrong because we can only infer from facts and not from opinion/conclusion?

Shubham2599jain · Answer

KarishmaB

Question - So (c) is more specific to the house, but the question is in general the use of a stove or a fireplace. I think (c) doesn't weaken enough because even if it weakens the question in the context of the home, in general a stove can still be more dangerous than a fireplace in other places such as factories, hotels, etc..

This is the reasoning I used to mark (B) as the correct answer. Please suggest why this reasoning is wrong.

KarishmaB · Answer

Precisely. You cannot take a conclusion to be a fact. It is not "given" to you. It is the author's "claim". You have to strengthen or weaken his claim.

KarishmaB · Answer

A weaken statement does not need to be"establish" that the conclusion is incorrect. It only needs to make you doubt it. You are "weakening" it, not demolishing it. So possibility that the conclusion is true can still exist.

Although wood-burning stoves are more efficient than open fireplaces

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Although wood-burning stoves are more efficient than open fireplaces

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