Logical Reasoning

PT2 · S4 · Q18 Some cleaning fluids

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Some cleaning fluids, synthetic carpets, wall paneling, and other products release toxins, such as formaldehyde and benzene, into the household air supply.

Facts

causal (release, remove, thereby eliminate)

some stuff we >> release toxins use in the home into air supply

houseplants >> remove toxins >> no from air danger

comparison

The toxin buildup isn't problematic in well-ventilated houses. The toxin buildup is problematic in other houses.

Evaluate

Pausing at this stage, we'd probably think,

Then we read this hypothetical, which they presumably expect us to judge using our knowledge from the paragraph above: I have some of those toxin-emitting things, and I'm in a small, well-insulated house. They're gonna put some of those helpful houseplants in my place.

What would we expect?

Well, we weren't that necessarily worried about our toxin emitting objects, since our house is well-ventilated.

But we saw in the experiment that when they put the same type of plants into the same type of house (small, well-ventilated), the plants sucked up all the formaldehyde.

Goal

So let's predict that it'll suck up any formaldehyde our toxin-emitting objects are emitting.

18.

Which one of the following can be expected as a result?

  1. There will no longer be

    Too Strong

    The stimulus never says plants remove enough toxins to eliminate the need for ventilation. Plants remove "some" household toxins; well-insulated houses still have toxin-releasing products (cleaning fluids, paneling, etc.); and the formaldehyde test only addresses one toxin. Also who knows what else this dude does in his house to stank it up. There could be lots of reasons he needs to ventilate the house.

    1% picked this

  2. The concentration of toxins in

    Contradicted

    We don't know whether this person's toxin emitting products emit formaldehyde, but they might. And if they do the plants will definitely reduce the concentration of that toxin. So if anything, we have reason to think the opposite of this answer.

    0% picked this

  3. The house will be warm

    Too Strong

    We know that well-insulated homes trap heat, but that doesn't mean they're warm. If it's freezing outside and you're not running the heat, it will not be warm inside. So we can't be sure this person's house will be warm. The plants will reduce once form of toxin from the air supply. But it might miss others. And might be other nasty parts about the air supply in this house. Maybe there is mold in the air ducts that vent air into the house. There are too many factors that go into it being safe and warm, so we can't guarantee those outcomes.

    5% picked this

  4. Correct

    If there is formaldehyde in

    Why this is right

    The test showed 20 plants eliminating formaldehyde in a small, well-insulated house, which is precisely the setup the question describes. So if formaldehyde is in the air in this similar house, the similar plants will presumably reduce it. (We might worry that it took twenty, large plants of this type in the experiment to do the job, and we don't know the size and quantity of the plants in this house. But the answer isn't saying the plants will be enough to eliminate formaldehyde, just to make any difference.)

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

    85% picked this

  5. If formaldehyde and benzene are

    Term Shift

    This talks about the quantities released decreasing. But plants do not affect the rate at which products release toxins; plants pull toxins out of the air after release. The stimulus is about removing toxins from the air supply, not slowing the source. Plus, we have no evidence that these plants help with benzene.

    9% picked this

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