- PowerScore Staff
- Posts: 418
- Joined: Sep 13, 2018
- Fri Apr 26, 2019 6:29 pm
#64437
hassan66,
"Postulate" means, most nearly, "suggest." The word has a technical meaning in math and is probably not being used very accurately in a science passage, but something like "conjecture" or "hypothesis" is a fair attempt at understanding the prose.
The reason that (A) is correct over (E) is that you are asked to interpret the word "mechanism." That word is already tilted towards "process," and using "theory" would be a stretch. In the immediately following discussion, it's a physical process that is discussed, supporting (A).
Scientifically, the use of a word that you find to be close to "hypothesis" would not justify an answer choice about "theory." A scientific theory is a working ultimate fact that has been confirmed by many favorable testings of hypotheses that play into that fact. An theory is not an educated guess, it is a best available truth.
"Postulate" means, most nearly, "suggest." The word has a technical meaning in math and is probably not being used very accurately in a science passage, but something like "conjecture" or "hypothesis" is a fair attempt at understanding the prose.
The reason that (A) is correct over (E) is that you are asked to interpret the word "mechanism." That word is already tilted towards "process," and using "theory" would be a stretch. In the immediately following discussion, it's a physical process that is discussed, supporting (A).
Scientifically, the use of a word that you find to be close to "hypothesis" would not justify an answer choice about "theory." A scientific theory is a working ultimate fact that has been confirmed by many favorable testings of hypotheses that play into that fact. An theory is not an educated guess, it is a best available truth.