Free SAT Practice Question

Question 1 of 1
ID: DSAT-RW-49
Section: Digital SAT Reading & Writing (RW) - Broadly Reading - Information and Ideas
Topic: Command of Evidence – Textual
Difficulty level: Hard

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Because moons that form in place are thought to accrete from the same circumplanetary disk as their planets, some planetary scientists have proposed that a giant planet and its regular moons should be composed of the same materials, with the moons containing equal or smaller proportions of any given element than the planet's bulk composition. This view is sometimes taken to fit measurements in our solar system.

Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the scientists' claim?

ASurvey spectra indicate many giant planets are dominated by hydrogen and helium, with only small amounts of rock-forming elements detected in their atmospheres; these results concern planets alone, not moon–planet composition comparisons.

BA Jupiter-like exoplanet is measured to have nearly the same hydrogen–helium ratio as Jupiter across multiple observations; however, the finding reports nothing about the compositions of any moons orbiting that planet.

CInfrared and mass-density measurements show several regular moons contain markedly higher fractions of water-derived oxygen and rocky metals than the planet's bulk composition, indicating those moons exceed, rather than match or trail, planetary abundances.

DA new instrument used to analyze irregular, likely captured moons exhibits calibration drift and tracking errors for small, fast targets; such performance issues do not address regular moons' compositions relative to their planet.

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