Q1 - When a forest is subject to acid rain

by **ohthatpatrick** Fri Dec 31, 1999 8:00 pm

Question Type:
Explain the Result (explain)

Stimulus Breakdown:
Fact 1: Acid rain on a forest makes the calcium in the soil decline, negatively impacting spure/fir/sugar maple trees.
Fact 2: Sugar maples seem much more negatively affected than are spruces or firs.

Answer Anticipation:
GIVEN THAT: "Spruce, fir, and sugar maple trees all need calcium to survive"
HOW CAN IT BE THAT: acid rain's calcium depletion seems to hurt sugar maples more than the other two?

Correct Answer:
C

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) Doesn't differentiate between sugar maples and the other two.

(B) This goes the opposite direction we'd want.

(C) Yes! This differentiates between them in a way that shows why spruces and firs are less negatively impacted by acid rain's calcium depletion.

(D) Doesn't differentiate between sugar maples and the other two.

(E) This works the opposite way. Being native to an area with acid rain would generally make you BETTER adapted to acid rain.

Takeaway/Pattern: When paradox questions hinge on a distinction (as they so often do … typically between Time Period 1 and Time Period 2), there will usually be at least a couple answer choices that can be immediately tossed for not making any distinction.

#officialexplanation