Free Practice Question
RC · Reading Comprehension
655-705
Short Passage - Science
Reading Passage
An experiment conducted aboard Space Lab in 1983 was the first attempt to grow protein crystals in the low-gravity environment of space. That experiment is still cited as evidence that growing crystals in microgravity can increase crystal size: the authors reported that they grew lysozyme protein crystals 1,000 times larger than crystals grown in the same device on Earth. Unfortunately, the authors did not point out that their crystals were no larger than the average crystal grown using other, more standard techniques in an Earth laboratory.
No research has yet produced results that could justify the enormous costs of producing crystals on a large scale in space. To get an unbiased view of the usefulness of microgravity crystal growth, crystals grown in space must be compared with the best crystals that have been grown with standard techniques on Earth. Given the great expense of conducting such experiments with proper controls, and the limited promise of experiments performed thus far, it is questionable whether further experiments in this area should even be conducted.
No research has yet produced results that could justify the enormous costs of producing crystals on a large scale in space. To get an unbiased view of the usefulness of microgravity crystal growth, crystals grown in space must be compared with the best crystals that have been grown with standard techniques on Earth. Given the great expense of conducting such experiments with proper controls, and the limited promise of experiments performed thus far, it is questionable whether further experiments in this area should even be conducted.
It can be inferred from the passage that the author would find the Space Lab experiment more impressive if which of the following were true?
Answer Choices
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The results of the Space Lab experiment could be replicated in producing other kinds of crystals in addition to lysozyme protein.
B
The device used in the experiment produced larger crystals on Earth than it did in space.
C
The size of the crystals produced in the experiment exceeded the size of crystals grown in Earth laboratories using standard techniques.
D
The cost of producing the crystals in space exceeded that of producing them using standard laboratory techniques.
E
The standard techniques used in Earth laboratories were modified in the Space Lab experiment due to the effects of microgravity.
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Difficulty
655-705
Type
RC
Category