Question

Evaluating Hypothesis. For each passage, pick the best explanation of those available, and explain why. Use the criteria discussed in class:::::::::::

1. Most fish in Tepid Stream are sick.

Explanation 1: Tepid Stream is polluted.

Explanation 2: The fish in Tepid Stream are being experimented on by aliens.

2. Most frogs in Smelly Bog are deformed.

Explanation 1. The deformations are the result of the nearby factory dumping chemicals near Smelly bog.

Explanation 2. The deformations are the result of secret government experiments on frogs.

3. When Sally came home at the end of a snowy day, she found her front door unlocked, the glass broken out of the back window, and her computer missing.

Explanation 1: Sally forgot to lock the front door when she left in the morning, a large piece of hale broke the window and then melted, and Sally does not own a computer but thinks she does due to temporary insanity.

Explanation 2: Someone broke into Sally’s house through the back window, stole her computer, and left through the front door.

4. Ducks gather near lakes and ponds.

Explanation 1: Animals seek out places occupied by things they eat.

Explanation 2: They want to play in the water, and they don’t want to pay to get into the public pool.

5. If you watch a ship sail off in the distance, not only does it appear to get smaller, but it appears to disappear from the bottom up.

Explanation 1: All ships sink if they sail out far enough, rising again from the waves when they come close to shore.

Explanation 2: The earth is round, and the curvature of the earth is gradually blocking your view of the ship.

Answer 1

1. The best explanatory variable is the polluted stream. It means that the variations in the pollution levels over the last 10 years is changing, so the most of the fishes are sick instead of being healthier and longer life as usual in a normal stream of water compared to the Polluted Tepid stream.

2. Deformations of the frogs are due to the reason that the nearby factory dumped chemicals that are changing the normal growth of the frogs. These chemicals are mutating the cells of the frogs to experience abnormal growth rate of the organs.

3. Sally's observation of the present condition of her house compares the previous state. It triggers her to think about the basic question what's gone wrong. The fact that she can visualize about the situation is the explanation 2. Because someone entered the broken back window, stolen her computer and then open the front door from outside the house and left it unlocked.

4. If we analyze the behavior of the animals and the fact behind the uniqueness of the animals' taste and preferences such as food, shelter, etc. Ducks' food mostly lives or available in the lakes and ponds. So they live near and around the lakes and ponds.

5. The claim that ships get smaller and disappear as they sail off away from the observer will be well reasoned logically with the variations in the position of the observer and the ships. The observer observes the change in size and disappear is due to the round shape of the earth, the position of the ship goes farther away from the observer on the circumference of a circle or on the surface of a spherical shape like the earth.