SAT OwlQuestion bank / Text Structure and Purpose
Physicists have long described light as behaving both like a wave and like a particle, and this "wave-particle duality" is often presented to students as a strange paradox. Physicist Anneliese Kroll argues that the paradox arises largely from language. The words "wave" and "particle," she points out, come from everyday objects, ripples on a pond and grains of sand, and light is neither. The puzzle, in Kroll's view, says more about the limits of our metaphors than about light itself.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
To present a physicist's argument that a well-known puzzle about light stems partly from the terms used to describe it
To argue that physicists have misread the experimental evidence about how light behaves
To explain the experiments that first revealed that light behaves like both a wave and a particle
To suggest that students should no longer be taught about the behavior of light
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A
The text introduces wave-particle duality and then presents Kroll's view that the paradox comes from borrowing words for everyday objects. Its purpose is to present that argument about language, choice A.
Choice B is tempting because Kroll questions how the puzzle is framed, but she criticizes the words used, not the experimental evidence.
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