Q10

[rikky.brown]

I'm having some trouble on question 10. I'm wondering why A is a better choice than B. I was really bogged down by all of the details of the feedback loop.

Thanks

[maryadkins]

So we're looking at lines 40-the end.

When you get bogged down in scientific details like this, best try to simplify it alongside in the margin (annotate with letters or key words or whatever works...pictures if you prefer!) so you can get a general view of what's happening, even if you don't understand the specifics of why or how.

A small drop in temp in early spring causes snow to stick around longer, and that reflects the sun, and that makes things cooler, and that makes this "jet stream" go farther south than it normally would, and that makes this "polar air" make everything colder. So in this way, the little drop in temp DOES make everything even colder, but only through this series of events.

So this "loop" just ends up meaning that this series of events leads to the initial effect being even bigger than it would have seemed initially.

(A) mimics this kind of "loop" (which you can really just think of as a series of things)...the decaying matter leads to blah blah blah which ends up, in the end, making MORE decaying matter.

(B) and (C) don't have this same trajectory of: start with something that has a small effect then through the series of events THAT SAME EFFECT becomes larger. In other words, both (B) and (C) change effects mid-answer (in (B), from decreasing the number of deer to increasing the number of other animals; in (C), from increasing deterioration to giving wolves more opportunities to prey on deer)

(D) starts with one effect (increasing ocean temp) and ends with the opposite (decreasing ocean temp).

(E) is like (B) and (C)"”we change effects midway through.

[rikky.brown]

That was very helpful! Thank you so much!!!

[renata.gomez]

Could another explanation be that in A, the same effect is increasing (the decaying matter), where as in B, the increase in # wolves leads to an increase in something different (# number of other animals)?

Thank you!

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

Could another explanation be that in A, the same effect is increasing (the decaying matter), where as in B, the increase in # wolves leads to an increase in something different (# number of other animals)?

Thank you!

Yes, indeed Renata, nice work!