Question to-dev
To develop a method for measuring snow depth with laser beams, NASA physicist Yongxiang Hu relied on blank; identifying broad similarities between two seemingly different phenomena, Hu used information about how ants move inside colonies to calculate how the particles of light that make up laser beams travel through snow.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
a contradiction
an analogy
a collaboration
an accessory
To develop a method for measuring snow depth with laser beams, NASA physicist Yongxiang Hu relied
Hard-difficulty · SAT Reading & Writing · Words in Context — Most precise word choice. Read the question above, select your answer, and check the full explanation below to understand exactly why the correct choice works.
Answer explanation
Choice D is the best answer. The text after the semicolon tells us that Hu "identif[ied] broad similarities between two seemingly different phenomena," comparing ants with light particles. Since an analogy seeks similarities between seemingly unrelated phenomena, this fits the context perfectly.
Choice A is incorrect. "A collaboration" refers to "an act of working with others," but what comes after the semicolon doesn’t describe collaboration with other researchers. Instead, it shows a comparison between two different (but ultimately similar) scientific phenomena. Choice B is incorrect. "An accessory" can refer to "something added to increase attractiveness or usefulness." No accessories are described in this text. Choice C is incorrect. "A contradiction" means "a set of ideas or things that are opposed to or inconsistent with each other." The text describes how Hu used the similarity between ant and light particle movement to develop his method, so a word that refers to difference would not make sense here.
More Words in Context practice questions
- Logically, a damaged fossil should provide less information than an intact one, but for
- Kelp forests grow underwater along the eastern Pacific Coast. These underwater forests
- Archaeologists studying an ancient amphitheater in Switzerland believe that it dates back
- Following the principles of community-based participatory research, tribal nations and
- Manul s are small, shy felines. They live mostly alone in out-of-the-way parts of
- In 1776, the United States sent Benjamin Franklin to France to try to win
- Sumerian civilization (which lasted from around 3300 to 2000 BCE) ______ blank many
- The spacecraft OSIRIS-REx briefly made contact with the asteroid 101955 Bennu in 2020.
Browse all Craft and Structure practice questions or return to the full SAT question bank.