#22 - Specific Reference, Must Be True, Principle

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below! Thank you!

[lilmissunshine]

Hello,

I chose (C) correctly out of luck but I didn't fully understand the meaning of "a disturbing force"... Could you explain why it's the right answer? Thank you!

[Adam Tyson]

Passage A refers to the auxiliary assumptions that appeal to the "absence of a disturbing force," among others. That means the scientists are assuming that something that might interfere (disturb) with their predictions is NOT present (absence). If we predict that a car will arrive at a certain point at a certain time based on its route and speed, we must assume that there won't be other things that get in the way, like traffic and pedestrians and potholes. Those are potential "disturbing forces" that might change the predicted results even though the original hypothesis may have been sound.

That's what Neptune did to the hypothesis about the orbit of Uranus. The scientists initially assumed that there was no disturbing force, like some yet-to-be-discovered planet that might alter Uranus' orbit. It turned out there was another planet, Neptune, that altered the predicted results.

May the force be with you, and never be a disturbance!