16Hit1600
Expression of IdeasHardEmphasising how unusual an object was for its time

Expression of Ideas practice question

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: - The Antikythera mechanism is a bronze device found in a shipwreck in 1901. - It dates from around 100 BCE. - It used at least 30 gears to model the motions of the sun, moon, and planets. - No device of comparable complexity is known from the following thousand years. The student wants to emphasise how unusual the mechanism's complexity was for its time.

Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

  1. A. Built around 100 BCE with at least 30 gears to model the heavens, the Antikythera mechanism has no known equal in complexity for the thousand years that followed.Correct
  2. B. The Antikythera mechanism was found in a shipwreck in 1901.
  3. C. The Antikythera mechanism modelled the motions of the sun, moon, and planets.
  4. D. The Antikythera mechanism is made of bronze.

Answer: A. Built around 100 BCE with at least 30 gears to model the heavens, the Antikythera mechanism has no known equal in complexity for the thousand years that followed.

Complexity, date, and the absence of any rival for a millennium.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. The Antikythera mechanism was found in a shipwreck in 1901.
Discovery, not complexity.
C. The Antikythera mechanism modelled the motions of the sun, moon, and planets.
Function without the comparison that shows it was unusual.
D. The Antikythera mechanism is made of bronze.
Material.

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