Logical Reasoning

PT155 · S2 · Q12 After the disastrous 1986 accident

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After the disastrous 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, the surrounding area was contaminated with radiation.

Given that ...

The nuclear accident at Chernobyl left the area contaminated with radiation, such that wild animals there now have very high levels of radiation in their muscles and bones.

How can we explain that ..

Since that disaster, wildlife populations in the region have expanded rapidly.

Explain / Goal

We need something that changed since the nuclear accident that would promote the growth of wildlife populations.

Maybe it's as simple as "humans left the area, following the accident". Humans often encroach on habitats, so once they leave the wildlife can thrive?

Maybe the radiation supercharged some of the local food supplies, so now more food grows there than before.

Maybe the radiation killed off the top super predators in the region and now all the lower species can proliferate.

12.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy in the information above?

  1. Animals that did not arrive

    No Impact

    This hasn't given us anything that changed about Chernobyl area, following the accident, that would help us to explain rapid expansion of wildlife populations.

    2% picked this

  2. Some of the species that

    Too Weak

    The word "some" is usually wrong on Strengthen, Weaken, and Paradox, where we're looking to find the most impactful answer we can. At best, this answer could tell us why the population of animals after the accident "is not much lower" than before the accident ('most of them were shielded from the damage'). But we need to explain why the population "is much higher", and this answer hasn't introduced any change to the Chernobyl environment, following the accident, that promotes the expansion of wildlife.

    3% picked this

  3. The region affected by the

    No Impact

    This doesn't give us anything that's changed about Chernobyl area, following the accident, that would help us to explain rapid expansion of wildlife populations. The region was always this size. That's a constant. We need a change to explain a change.

    0% picked this

  4. While some of the radioactive

    Too Weak

    Just like (B), this answer is very weak ('some') and all it's doing is trying to limit the damage the radiation would have done. It has no power to explain the growth in populations. We could say, "The reason wildlife populations haven't disappeared is that only some of the radioactive chemicals lower fertility". But we can't say, "The reason that wildlife populations have rapidly expanded is that only some of the radiation is harming them." Okay, but why are they rapidly expanding?

    1% picked this

  5. Correct

    The threat of radiation poisoning

    Why this is right

    Here we have an answer that introduces something that changed, in the aftermath of the accident, that could explain why wildlife populations are expanding: new habitat and less danger from hunters.

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

    93% picked this

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