SAT Reading & Writing · Rhetorical Synthesis
A student has researched tuned mass dampers and compiled the following notes: - A tuned mass damper is a large auxiliary mass installed…
A student has researched tuned mass dampers and compiled the following notes:
- A tuned mass damper is a large auxiliary mass installed inside a tall building.
- It moves out of phase with the building's sway, in the opposite direction.
- This opposing motion dissipates or redistributes some of the building's vibrational energy.
- The Taipei 101 skyscraper uses a visible, pendulum-like damper weighing hundreds of tons.
- Dampers must be precisely tuned to a building's specific dynamic properties to work effectively.
- Dampers reduce a building's motion during wind or earthquakes but do not make the structure immune to damage.
The student wants to emphasize the distinction between what a tuned mass damper can and cannot accomplish. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
- A tuned mass damper is a large auxiliary mass installed inside a tall building.
- It moves out of phase with the building's sway, in the opposite direction.
- This opposing motion dissipates or redistributes some of the building's vibrational energy.
- The Taipei 101 skyscraper uses a visible, pendulum-like damper weighing hundreds of tons.
- Dampers must be precisely tuned to a building's specific dynamic properties to work effectively.
- Dampers reduce a building's motion during wind or earthquakes but do not make the structure immune to damage.
The student wants to emphasize the distinction between what a tuned mass damper can and cannot accomplish. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
Answer and explanation
Answer: D: A tuned mass damper reduces a building's motion during wind or earthquakes, but it does not make the structure immune to damage from these forces.
The goal specifically calls for a contrast between capability and limitation. D is the only choice built around exactly that contrast, naming what the damper does (reduce motion) directly alongside what it does not do (guarantee immunity). A, B, and C each describe a single fact about damper design or use without setting up any can/cannot distinction.
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