A natural history museum

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct89% picked this

   Some of the older displays will last longer if the tungsten lamps that illuminate them are replaced

   Why this is right

   This feels pretty supportable, since we know the new compact fluorescent lamps (designed for use in museums) give off as much light but give off less heat. Since in some of the older displays, the skins have started to deteriorate because of low humidity and the heat of the lights, switching to a lamp that gives off less heat should slow the rate of deterioration and help the animal skin last longer.

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

   89%
2. B

   Unknown Comparison3% picked this

   The displays that are lit by many compact fluorescent lamps are more prone to deterioration than the displays that are lit

   We only know how to compare a single tungsten lamp to a single fluorescent (the latter gives off equal light but less heat). But we have no idea how to judge the math of "many tungsten" vs ."few fluorescents".

   3%
3. C

   Unsupported Comparison1% picked this

   More of the displays are lit by compact fluorescent lamps than are lit

   We can certainly see from this paragraph why it make more SENSE to have more fluorescent displays than tungsten displays, but we don't have any information about the current ratio of one lamp to the other. The fluorescent ones, despite being better, might be so new or so expensive that they don't yet outnumber the old school ones.

   1%
4. D

   Too Strong: no deterioration5% picked this

   The newer displays will not be subject to deterioration because of

   Everything in the universe deteriorates, I'm sad to inform us. It's maybe the 2nd law of thermodynamics? Something about entropy only increases. We could support that the newer displays will be less subject to deterioration because of the heat of the lights. But we don't know how the humidity levels compare for the tungsten vs. fluorescent lamp displays.

   5%
5. E

   Unknown Comparison2% picked this

   The humidity in the museum is lower today than it was when the older displays were

   We definitely don't have any way to compare humidity throughout the whole museum today vs. in the past. This answer, like (D), seems to want to bait us into believing that fluorescent lamps are lower in humidity. We were never told that. Heat and humidity are two different things. There's more heat in Arizona in the summer (100+ degrees) even though there's more humidity in Florida (when it's only like 80-90 degrees).

   2%