#12 - Concept Reference, Must Be True

[jwheeler]

Sorry if I misclassified this as a MBT...

I was stuck between A and B on this one. I initially went with A, citing the passage in B that states "OBMs have a greater potential for negative environmental impact, partly because they do not disperse as readily". This seems pretty straightforward, but I read into it a lot and decided I thought A might be a trick answer that switches "readily" for "slowly", so I wasn't confident choosing it.

For B, it says that barite has the potential to impact some organisms, namely scallops. Now it doesn't necessarily say that barite has a negative influence on the scallops, but it doesn't seem likely that it would have a good effect. It was also sandwiched in there between the two bad effects (doesn't easily disperse and mineral oil can be toxic). Is it because it left that a possibility still that A is the winner?

Thanks for all the help, my studying is really benefitting from this forum!

[Adam Tyson]

Careful there, jwheeler! Do OBMs contain bentonite? That's what answer B is talking about, not barite, and there's no indication that they are the same thing (and in fact they are not). Bentonite clay was mentioned as a component of WBMs, but not mentioned at all with regard to OBMs. That was a trick answer!

I think it's safe to say that if the barite doesn't disperse as readily (easily), then it probably does so slower. They switched terms on you to make you overthink it, perhaps, but it's not such a jump to get there. B has to be rejected because of the bentonite/barite switcheroo, and A is the best answer of the bunch.