The material traditionally used for make kettles in which water for

Question

The material traditionally used for make kettles in which water for teas is boiled is iron. When water is brought to a boil in these tea kettles, minute traces of iron dissolve in the water. These trace amounts of iron affect the taste of the tea. The use of tea kettles made of nontraditional materials that do not dissolve in water would therefore generally improve the taste of the tea.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

A. Some metals do not dissolve in boiling water. 
 B. Iron from kettles is the only impunity that is found frequently in water used for tea. 
 C. Trace amount of dissolved iron do not improve the taste of tea. 
 D. A significant number of people would be willing to switch from iron tea kettles to tea kettles made of nontraditional materials. 
 E. Tea can be made without bringing the water to a boil.

Aprillingling1 · Answer

Can anyone explain C and B?
The argument say iron affect taste, doesn’t it means the same as C mentioned?

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shaurya_gmat · Answer

My understading of the argument :
Iron is traditional material used to make kettles. Minute traces (of iron) dissolve when boiling water. Trace amounts of iron AFFECT the taste. (CONCLUSION) Hence using nontraditional materials that do not dissolve will IMPROVE the taste of tea.

IMO, the answer is C because-
-> For the author to conclude that the taste of the tea will IMPROVE without trace amounts of iron, he must assume that iron is dimishing/not enhancing the taste of the tea.

B -> If iron is the only impurity that is found and it enhances the taste of the tea (when mixed), the conclusion of the argument does not hold.

This is the logic I used to solve this question. I hope this helps answer your question. You can tag one of the moderators for their approach if needed.

SomyaMBA2025 · Answer

In my opinion, the correct answer should be B.

For conclusion to hold, author must be assuming that only impurity passed in tea is through iron in kettle only, conclusion does not holds if the impurity is brought into tea through any other source in water.

shaurya_gmat · Answer

The conclusion the author draws is that without the dissolved iron, the tea will taste better... No where in the passage is it mentioned that Iron diminishes the taste of the tea. The argument says the taste is AFFECTED. For the author's conclusion (no impurities will improve the taste) to hold, the author MUST BELIEVE that the iron content is not affecting the taste of the tea in a positive manner. Hence the conclusion that tea will taste better when prepared in a kettle without iron.

VerbalBot · Answer

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