Exam 1: Basic Concepts

Contrary to the assurances of the fast food industry, most fast foods are loaded with fat grams. For example, KFC's Chunky Chicken Pot Pie has 42 fat grams, a Double Whopper with Cheese has 65, and an order of Mucho Grande Nachos has an incredible 82 fat grams.

Hot peppers cause a burning sensation in the mouth because they contain a compound called capsaicin (or any of the related compounds called capsaicinoids). Capsaicin is an alkaline oil that binds to pain receptors in the mucous membrane. In some cases it produces excruciating agony. Drinking something acidic, like lemonade, helps to combat the burning. Anne Marie Helmenstine, About.com Guide to Chemistry

PART A If Dorothy misses her plane, then she will arrive late for the wedding. Therefore, Dorothy will miss her plane, because she will certainly arrive late for the wedding. This argument is correctly symbolized as follows: a. If M then A A M $\quad$ b. If M then A M A $\quad$ c. If S then P . If A then S . If P then A d. \begin{array} { l } \text { All \mathrm{M} are \( A \).}\\ \text { All \( \mathrm{A} \) are S.}\\ \text { All \( \mathrm{S} \) are \( \mathrm{M} \). }\\\end{array}$\quad$ e. \begin{array} { l } \text { \mathrm{S} are \( \mathrm{P} \).}\\ \text { \( A \) are C.}\\ \text {\( S \) are \( A \). }\\\end{array}$\quad$ PART B Which of the following substitutions proves the argument invalid? A) S = George Washington committed suicide, P = he is dead, M = Abraham Lincoln committed suicide. B) M = George Smith committed suicide, A = George Smith is dead. C) M = Abraham Lincoln committed suicide, A = Abraham Lincoln is dead. D) M = Abraham Lincoln is dead, A = Abraham Lincoln committed suicide. E) M = cats, A = mammals, M = animals.

Governments do many things. They wage war or encourage peace, and they cultivate or restrict international trade. They open their borders to the exchange of ideas or they close them. They tax their populations heavily or lightly, and through different means, allocate resources for education, health and welfare, or leave such matters to others. Gabriel A. Almond, et al., Comparative Politics Today, 7^th ed.

A misdemeanor is a minor criminal offense punishable by less than one year in prison. Thus, petty theft is a misdemeanor, as is vandalism, trespassing, and prostitution. Some people convicted of misdemeanors are fined. Others are sentenced to probation or community service.

All algae photosynthesize their own food, as plants do. Algae are also widely distributed in bodies of fresh water and in oceans. Because they are so numerous and because they capture energy from sunlight in the food they make, algae are an important source of food for other organisms. Jacquelyn C. Black, Microbiology: Principles and Explorations

An argument that proceeds from our knowledge of the past to a claim about the future is:

Which of the following are all inductive arguments?

Highway 37 cannot be the road to Brookfield. The road to Brookfield is a gravel road and Highway 37 is paved.

Acid rain is an ecological threat that must be taken seriously. Acid rain has killed the fish in thousands of lakes, and it has caused billions of dollars in damages to important crops. Furthermore, acid rain poses a serious threat to our nation's forests.

Which of the following are all conclusion indicators?

All essay contests are challenges that promote thinking. All challenges that promote thinking are educational experiences. Thus, all essay contests are educational experiences.

If a deductive argument has a false premise and a false conclusion, then we know:

Given that x² + 2x = 15. It follows that x = 3.

Which of the following are all premise indicators?

After investing in the stock market, Pamela doubled her money in just two years, and Beth and Tiffany did the same thing. However, Greg, Ivan, and Marty all lost money on the stock market during the same time frame. The obvious conclusion is that women do better than men in the stock market.

The ozone layer filters out harmful ultraviolet rays from sunlight before they can reach the surface of our planet and cause damage to humans and other life forms. Any substantial reduction in the amount of this ozone would threaten life as we know it. Consequently, the appearance of a large "hole" in the ozone layer over Antarctica represents a major environmental crisis. Colin Baird and Michael Cann, Environmental Chemistry, 3^rd edition

Health care is a basic right. Our current system is convoluted and unethical and should go the way of gladiator games. We can spar and battle in the free market in many arenas, but when we get sick we should all have care-not just the lawyers, bankers, politicians, and others who can afford it. We like the free market, but we shouldn't let people die in the street-not in this country. Lucius Schoenbaum, Letter to the Editor

The beating of your heart results from physiological mechanisms fundamentally no different from those that underlie heart function in fishes, frogs, and birds. Likewise, the molecular events that produce an electrical nerve impulse in your brain are fundamentally the same as those that produce an impulse in the nerve of a squid or rat. For these reasons, animal physiology has made innumerable contributions to our understanding of human physiology. David Randall et al., Animal Physiology

Nearly all philosophers and neuroscientists reject mind-body dualism. The primary objection is that that it conflicts with the law of conservation of matter and energy in physics. The only way to accelerate matter or transform energy, including the matter and energy in your body, is to act upon it with other matter or energy. For these reasons, if your mind is going to influence the matter or energy of your brain or any other part of your body, your mind must itself be composed of matter or energy. James W. Kalat, Biological Psychology, 7^th ed.