When a planetary system forms,

Answer choices

1. A

   Out of Scope Comparison3% picked this

   whether all planetary systems are formed from similar amounts

   It doesn't make any difference whether all planetary systems are formed from similar amounts of matter. Whether there's 1 billion tons of matter or 1 trillion tons of matter doesn't change the logic riddle of, "How can you be safe from comets, if you have no large planets around?"

   3%
2. B

   Out of Scope24% picked this

   whether intelligent species would be likely to survive if a comet

   This is about whether intelligent life would survive a comet strike, but the argument is about whether comet strikes would keep intelligent life from having ever developed. Also, it's pretty fair to say that from the claim that "had Earth been frequently struck by large comets, intelligent life would have never arisen on Earth" that we're already pretty clear on the impact of comets on Earth (no pun intended). If comet strikes, bad for life. We're not going to object by saying, "getting hit by comets is fine". We're hoping to object by saying, "these planets aren't going to be hit by comets ... [for some reason]."

   24%
3. C

   Irrelevant Distinction5% picked this

   whether large comets could be deflected by only one large planet rather

   The author is talking about planetary systems that have ZERO large planets, so the distinction between 1 vs. 2 is irrelevant.

   5%
4. D

   Correct59% picked this

   how high the chances are that planetary systems will contain many

   Why this is right

   This answer has a potential answer that would Weaken the argument, so it's correct. If we said "the chances are very low that a planetary system will contain many large comets", then that would badly weaken the argument. This is our way to argue that "even if these life-eligible planets don't have a large planet protecting them from comets, they're still safe from comets for some reason". The reason it gives is this: there aren't many large comets in their planetary system, so they don't need a large planet to protect them.

   Skill tested: Evaluate · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   59%
5. E

   Irrelevant Statistic9% picked this

   how likely it is that planetary systems containing large planets will also contain planets the

   If only 10% of planetary systems have a large planet, that's how the author is making her argument. It doesn't matter if we take that 10% and say, "Yeah, author, but 90% of those have Earth-size planets!" The author would just be like, cool, that's still 90% of 10%! That's only 9 out of 100 planets.

   9%