A Guide to the GRE/Hard Science Passages

Hard Science Passages

The GRE also contains passages with “hard science” concepts, often which are difficult to understand.

It was not until the early 20th century that the energy convective properties of matter were extensively studied, but during this era, physicists began to explore 5 the manner in which particles behaved when exposed to light, electricity, or other forms of energy. To their surprise, they found that matter tended to convect energy at fixed numeric intervals - a minimum 10 “unit” of measurement which was proposed and calculated by German physicist Max Planck. Planck, and ultimately the entire scientific community, came to except the “quantum theory” - 15 that energy is exchanged in certain basic units which correspond to basic particles of matter. 1. What does “quantum theory” mean?

2. What is the evidence for “quantum theory”?

Answers to Practice Questions

1. “Quantum theory” refers to the idea that energy is “quantized” or transmitted in numerical values. According to quantum theory, there is a basic “unit” or “package” in which energy is transmitted.

2. As explained in lines 4-9, scientists found that when energy was exposed to matter, it gave off (“convected”) the energy at particular intervals. This implied that there were numerical “packages” in which the energy was transmitted.