June 1992 LSAT Section 4 Question 17

It can be inferred from the passage that a bacterium would increase the likelihood of its moving away from an area wh...

Rachel-Caldwell-2 on July 30, 2020

Where is the support for the right answer?

I know paragraph one talks about the bacteria being repelled from harmful substances, but I only see discussion of the movement in relation to attractive substances.

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shunhe on July 31, 2020

Hi @Rachel-Caldwell-2,

Thanks for the question! So you’re right in that the passage just discusses the movement in relation to attractive substances, but what we want to focus on here is how that movement works exactly. The lines that you’re probably referring to, and the lines that will help us get to the correct answer choice, are going to be in the second paragraph between lines 15 and 32.

So what are we told here? Basically, when bacteria swim towards stuff they like, they tumble less, which makes them go straighter over longer distances. Basically, the tumbling makes the bacteria change directions. So the more tumbling, the more the bacteria changes directions and the less likely it continues on its trajectory. The less tumbling, the less the bacteria changes directions, and the more likely it continues on its trajectory. So when the attractants are there and the bacteria are moving towards them, they tumble less, which makes them less likely to deviate from a path that leads them to the attractants. And when they move away, they tumble more, which makes them more likely to change and go back towards the attractant.

So the whole point of that is to get us to understand how the whole tumbling thing works in the first place. Well, we know what makes bacteria move towards a certain spot now. The question’s just asking us what would help the bacteria get away from a certain spot! And that comes directly from what we said above: the more tumbling, the less likely the bacteria is likely to continue on its path and reach a certain spot. So if it tumbled more as it went towards the harmful substance, it’d be less likely to get to it. And if it tumbled less as it went away from the substance, it’d be more likely to keep going away. And that’s why (E) is going to be the correct answer choice here.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.

Rachel-Caldwell-2 on August 3, 2020

Thank you!

shunhe on August 5, 2020

You're welcome!