RC Question 27 Explanation
QUESTION TEXT: Which one of the following scientific episodes is…
DISCUSSION: Before answering this type of question, you must go back and read about the role of Neptune. It’s only lines 33-51, it shouldn’t take more than about 20 seconds. Rereading is much faster than reading.
Newton’s theory wasn’t correctly predicting Uranus’ orbit. However, the predictions depended on auxiliary assumptions, such as “there is no nearby planet”.
Newton’s theory was well respected. So when the predictions were wrong, scientists then assumed “oh, there must be another planet”. They looked, and discovered Neptune. This discovery allowed Newton’s theory to correctly predict Uranus’ orbit. In the case of Uranus, it was the auxiliary assumption that was wrong, not the theory.
___________
- In this case, Galileo was wrong. But Neptune’s discovery showed Newton’s theory was right.
- This doesn’t show if a theory is being upheld or not.
- The crater is additional evidence for Alvarez’s theory. But it’s not missing evidence that we expected to find, and Alvarez’s theory wasn’t making bad predictions before the crater’s discovery.
- In the passage, Newton’s theory was making bad predictions, and Neptune’s discovery resolved the dilemma. Here, there’s no initial theory. Brunhes just makes a discovery, then concludes a new fact.
- CORRECT. This matches.
Original: Newton’s theory made incorrect predictions. So scientists predicted a planet existed. Neptune was found.
This answer: Law of conservation of energy makes wrong predictions. Wolfgang Pauli predicts existence of third particle. Third particle later found.
This was so hard because I kept getting tripped up by Newton’s law eventually being disproved. So, I guess I need to remember to ONLY think about the section being asked about in the question and not the entire passage as a whole?
That’s correct. When a question asks about a specifics, refer back to the text to gain an understanding and summarize what happened in the relevant sentences. In this case, anything beyond the discovery of Neptune is irrelevant to helping you identify the correct answer choice.
Thank you!