Free SAT Practice Question

Question 1 of 1
ID: SAT-RW-II-029
Section: SAT Reading & Writing (RW) – Information and Ideas
Topic: Central Ideas and Details
Difficulty level: Easy

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The familiar white puffball of a dandelion is a cluster of seeds, each crowned with a tuft of fine bristles called a pappus. When a breeze catches the pappus, the seed does not simply fall; it can drift for hundreds of meters. The bristles are spaced so that much of the air flows through the gaps between them rather than sliding around them as it would around a solid disc. As that air passes through, it forms a small, stable ring of circulating air just above the tuft. This ring lowers the air pressure above the seed and steadies its descent, so that even a light wind can carry the seed far from the parent plant.

According to the text, what most directly allows a dandelion seed to drift far from the parent plant?

AThe tuft of fine bristles crowning each dandelion seed is known as a pappus.

BA stable ring of circulating air forms just above the tuft of bristles, lowering the air pressure and steadying the seed's descent.

CDandelion seeds can travel farther on the wind than the seeds of any other kind of plant. On this version the dandelion is not merely a good flier but the champion of the plant world, a superlative the passage never comes close to claiming.

DThe weight of the pappus gently pulls the seed downward as it settles through still air.

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