John of Worcester, an English monk

Answer choices

1. A

   Weakens, if anything3% picked this

   An aurora borealis can sometimes occur even when there has been no significant sunspot activity

   An answer as weakly worded as "sometimes" will almost always be wrong on Strengthen, Weaken, and Paradox. But this one even goes in the wrong direction, since it's de-coupling sunspots and aurora borealis, when the argument is trying to associate them with each other.

   3%
2. B

   No Impact4% picked this

   Chinese sources recorded the sighting of sunspots more than 1000 years before John

   Sunspot sightings from a millennium before John's sighting are out of scope, unless they are providing another instance in which a sunspot sighting in Europe was followed by an aurora borealis in Southeast Asia.

   4%
3. C

   Correct82% picked this

   Only heavy sunspot activity could have resulted in an aurora borealis viewable at a latitude as low

   Why this is right

   This rules out alternate possibilities for the aurora borealis in Korea. If Korea had aurora borealis somewhat commonly from other causes, then there would be no reason to think that any given aurora borealis sighting in Korea was strong evidence of sunspots (which presumably are not that rare). So this answer strengthens the argument by ruling out all alternative causes for aurora borealis. The strong language of "only" is great news, when we're looking for a powerful answer on Strengthen / Weaken / Paradox. This answer is so strong, it's conditional: aurora borealis ? must have been caused by in Korea heavy sunspot activity We know that there was an aurora borealis in Korea, so this answer tells us that it was definitely caused by heavy sunspot activity. So that greatly increases the plausibility that this sighting is connected to John's sighting of sunspots.

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

   82%
4. D

   No Impact3% picked this

   Because it is impossible to view sunspots with the naked eye under typical daylight conditions, the sighting recorded by John of Worcester would have

   This answer just establishes that John's sighting would have taken place in fog or thin clouds. Does that do anything to connect it to the aurora borealis in Korea? Nope.

   3%
5. E

   No Impact8% picked this

   John of Worcester's account included a drawing of the sunspots, which could be the earliest

   This provides more detail about how John recorded his sighting, but this answer does nothing to connect John's sunspot sighting to the aurora borealis in Korea.

   8%