Sat practice Test #8 Answer Explanations

Choice A is the best answer. The first paragraph of the passage 
makes clear that salt exhibits elasticity (“stretching like taffy”) in the 
nanoworld, and the eighth paragraph explains that salt possesses some 
degree of elasticity in the macroworld as well: “Huge underground 
deposits of salt can bend like plastic, but water is believed to play 
a role at these scales.” Thus flexibility describes the relationship 
between salt’s behavior in both the nanoworld and the macroworld.
Choice B is incorrect because the third paragraph explains that 
“scientists don’t expect” salt’s flexibility in the nanoworld, not that 
they do expect it; moreover, there is no indication that salt’s flexibility 
in the macroworld is surprising. Choice C is incorrect because the 
passage doesn’t make clear whether nanowires were first observed 
in the nanoworld or the macroworld. Choice D is incorrect because 
the passage does not examine the interaction of salt and water in 
the nanoworld or suggest that such interaction causes salt to have 
properties that are different from those it possesses in the macroworld.
QUESTION 29
Choice D is the best answer. The previous question asks about which 
description of the relationship between salt behavior in the nanoworld 
and in the macroworld can be inferred from the passage. The answer, that 
salt is flexible or elastic in both worlds, is best supported in the eighth 
paragraph: “Huge underground deposits of salt can bend like plastic, but 
water is believed to play a role at these scales.” These lines suggest that 
in the macroworld, as in the nanoworld, salt possesses flexibility.

---

ANSwER ExPlANATIONS
| SAT Practice Test #8
Choices A, B, and C are incorrect because the cited lines don’t support 
the answer to the previous question. Instead, they highlight the 
prevalence of nanowires (choice A), identify which forces dominate 
the nanoworld (choice B), and offer a tentative explanation for an 
observation discussed in the passage (choice C).
QUESTION 30