The more sunlight our planet reflects back

Answer choices

1. A

   No Impact8% picked this

   Low atmospheric temperatures are required for the formation of clouds that

   This answer is telling us what's required for snow. Who cares? We're trying to judge the hypothetical effects of having more snow / ice. How snow is created doesn't help us evaluate whether more snow would cool the globe.

   8%
2. B

   Weakens1% picked this

   Other factors besides the reflectivity of ice and snow affect the cooling

   This opens the doorway to possible objections. Maybe these other factors would actually contribute to a warmer globe, in a snowy / icy world. A strengthener would say, "No other factor besides reflectivity (i.e. my Evidence) is relevant when it comes to cooling the atmosphere (i.e. my Conclusion)."

   1%
3. C

   Correct59% picked this

   Ocean water and land heated by sunlight in turn warm

   Why this is right

   Since land heated by sunlight warms the atmosphere, it lends some support to the idea that land covered with snow and ice would be less heated by sunlight and so would less-warm Earth's atmosphere. Thus it's adding some support to the idea that land covered by snow/ice, rather than uncovered, will lead to a cooler atmosphere. This answer is a dud, but it does more than anything else does. It feels like it just reinforces what we already know. We were told that snow/ice is better at reflecting sunlight back into space, which makes the atmosphere cooler. We understand --- "Get that radiation out of here!", snow says, like an NBA center swatting a shot into the 10th row. By sending the radiation back into space, it doesn't get trapped in our atmosphere, adding to our atmosphere's warmth. Meanwhile, uncovered land and ocean don't reflect the light, they absorb it. Since they absorb the radiation, the Earth gets warmer. So isn't this answer just reiterating that same fact? That sunlight gets absorbed and heats up the ocean / land / atmosphere? Not quite. It's explaining to us how the non-reflected (absorbed) light actually has any effect on the atmosphere. Someone might have thought, "Cool, ocean and land don't reflect light. They just absorb it. That just means that the land and the ocean water will be warmer. That doesn't mean global atmospheric temps will be lower!" This answer spells out, "Yes. Yes, it does."

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

   59%
4. D

   Unclear Impact20% picked this

   The atmosphere derives most of its heat from the passage of

   This answer is tempting because it seems to augment the importance of the evidence. "Our evidence was talking about sunlight passing in (and out) of Earth. Our conclusion was about atmospheric cooling. Most of atmospheric temp is connected to passage of sunlight." The reason I think this answer breaks down is that it seems to suggest that the snowy/ice world would actually be a source of more heat for the atmosphere. We're judging a world with more snow/ice vs. a world with less. In which world is there more sunlight passing through the atmosphere? There might be more sunlight passing through the atmosphere in the snow/ice world, since that world reflects more sunlight back into space. Every photon passes through on its way in, and then passes through the atmosphere again on its way out. Meanwhile, a photon that only passes in and then gets absorbed by land or ocean, only passes through the atmosphere once.

   20%
5. E

   No Impact11% picked this

   Lighter-colored soil reflects more sunlight back into space than does

   This would only strengthen in the sense of making it seem like brighter things, like snow or ice or light soil, are better at reflecting. We have already established in the evidence that snow/ice is better at reflecting, so suggesting that light coloration is the reason why adds nothing to our case.

   11%