LSAT 134 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q7

LR Question 7 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Inertia affects the flow of water pumped through a closed system …

QUESTION TYPE: Most Strongly Supported

FACTS:

• Inertia affects how water starts and stops flowing through pipes.
• When the pump is turned on, the water doesn’t immediately reach full speed.
• When the pump is turned off, the water doesn’t immediately stop.
• The effects of inductance in electrical circuits are similar to the effects of inertia in water pipes.

ANALYSIS: Don’t be intimidated by big words like inertia and inductance. Knowing what they mean isn’t crucial to figuring out this stimulus. But if you come across words you don’t know, always look them up when you’re reviewing! It pays off to have a bigger vocabulary.

So inertia affects the flow of water. It changes how the water acts when you turn the pump on and off.

The last sentence is the key. It tells us that inductance has similar effects in electrical circuits. If that’s true, then the most we can conclude is that inductance affects the flow of electrical current.

Be careful not to push the analogy further than the stimulus does.

___________

1. CORRECT. This is exactly what the analogy supports. Water flow is affected by inertia. Electrical current should be similarly affected by inductance.
2. The stimulus compares inductance to inertia. It does not say electrical current involves inertia.
3. The stimulus never says the pump’s electrical circuits cause the water’s inertia. It simply compares two separate phenomena.
4. There’s no discussion of what engineers do.
5. Water flow decreases gradually, but that does not mean the pump keeps pumping after it’s switched off. That’s adding a fact that isn’t in the stimulus.