SAT #12

Public-awareness campaigns about the need to reduce single-use plastics can be successful, says researcher Kim Borg of Monash University in Australia, when these campaigns give consumers a choice: for example, Japan achieved a 40 percent reduction in plastic-bag use after cashiers were instructed to ask customers whether _____ wanted a bag.

• they

• one

• you

• it

When external forces are applied to common glass made from silicates, energy builds up around minuscule defects in the material, resulting in fractures. Recently, engineer Erkka Frankberg of Tampere University in Finland used the chemical _____ to make a glassy solid that can withstand higher strain than silicate glass can before fracturing. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• compound, aluminum oxide

• compound aluminum oxide,

• compound, aluminum oxide,

• compound aluminum oxide

While light is known as one of the fastest-moving substances, it slows down when passing through some types of matter. One such type of matter is a form of cooled, condensed gas called a Bose-Einstein condensate _____ Dutch physicist Lene Hau famously used a BEC to slow a beam of light to a complete halt. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• (BEC),

• (BEC) and

• (BEC);

• (BEC)

In 1929, Edwin Herbert Land invented a polarizing filter that was featured in a number of products, from sunglasses to 3D movies. A decade later, Land _____ his technology to invent the world’s first instant camera, the Polaroid Land camera. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• used

• to have used

• to use

• using

Water in the North Atlantic Ocean is pushed eastward by powerful winds, but the rotation of Earth and interference from nearby landmasses together cause _____ to swirl into a massive, churning whirlpool—also called the North Atlantic Gyre—that spins clockwise.

• these

• those

• them

• it