Weaken Questions - - Question 9

Nuclear fusion is a process whereby the nuclei of atoms are joined, or "fused," and in which energy is released. One ...

Julie-V July 15, 2019

"Did Not Exceed" in C

Hi LSAT Max! I'm still a little confused with this stimulus and correct answer choice. I know that the cause is the experimenter concluding that fusion has been achieved because the effect was a measurable amount of h-4 gas found in the air of the chamber. When I first picked C, I thought that "did not exceed" meant that there wasn't enough h-4 gas which is why it weakens. After reading the explanation and answer choice C about five more times, however, I think "did not exceed" references to the fact that the h-4 gas was either the same amount or less than what is typically found in ordinary air. Since there's no difference in h-4 gas between the experiment and generally with ordinary air, does that lead us to believe that the presence of h-4 gas isn't enough to prove that fusion has been achieved? I hope I didn't lose you there with my question. Any clarifications would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance!

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Ravi July 30, 2019

@Julie-V,

Great question. Recall that we're looking to cast doubt on the
experimenters' conclusion.

That's correct. If the amount of h-4 gas in the chamber isn't greater
than what's found in the atmosphere, this casts a ton of doubt that
fusion was actually achieved. What's to say that the h-4 present in
the chamber isn't the same naturally-occurring h-4 in the atmosphere
and wasn't a byproduct of the reaction? This makes the claim that
fusion occurred very questionable, so (C) is the correct answer
choice.

Does this make sense? Let us know if you have any other questions!