medium · LSAT Logical Reasoning
Conservator: Paper treated with an alkaline deacidification process retains far more tensile strength after accelerated aging than otherwise similar untreated paper. The process is intended to slow deterioration by neutralizing acids already in the fibers and leaving an alkaline reserve that neutralizes acids formed later. Thus the treated paper's greater durability is probably produced by that acid-neutralizing mechanism.
Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?
- Several untreated papers manufactured recently are stronger than some treated papers manufactured a century ago.
- Blocking formation of the alkaline reserve lets treatment neutralize existing acid but removes most later durability gains.
- The treatment also deposits a thin polymer coating that independently slows the breakage of paper fibers.
- Libraries using the process generally treat valuable documents before less valuable ones.
- The alkaline treatment slightly changes the color and surface appearance of some papers even when they undergo no accelerated aging and show no measurable loss of tensile strength.
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More LSAT Logical Reasoning practice
- Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument?
- Which one of the following can be properly inferred from these statements?
- The question type just described is best identified as which one of the following?
- The reasoning in the argument is flawed in that the argument
- The reasoning in the argument is flawed because the argument
- Which one of the following most accurately describes the relationship the statement establ
- Which one of the following can be validly inferred from the two conditionals above?
- Which one of the following must be true given the statement above?