Question 9
ComprehensionJAMB 2005 Passage II: Life on the moon
It is not possible to admit that there is life of any sort on the moon. It is a world that is completely and utterly dead, a sterile mountainous waste on which, during the heat of the day, the sun blazes down with relentless fury, but where during the long night the cold is so intense that it far surpasses anything ever experienced on earth.
These hard facts are conveniently ignored by those who believe that it would be possible to shoot a rocket containing human beings to the moon, from which the human explorers could land and explore some portion of the moon's surface. The explorers would need to be encased in airtight suits and provided with oxygen apparatus to enable them to breathe. Even supposing that they could protect themeselves against the great heat by day and the extreme cold at night, a worse fate might be in store for them unless their suits were completely bullet-proof. For they would be in danger of being shot by a shooting star. The average shooting star or meteor, which gives so strongly the impression of a star falling from the sky, is a small fragment of matter, usually smaller than a pea and often no longer than a grain of sand. Space is not empty but contains great numbers of such fragments. The earth, in its motion round the sun, meets many of these fragments, which enter the atmosphere at a speed many times greater than that of a rifle bullet. The meteor, rushing through the air, becomes intensely heated by friction and is usually completely vapourised before it penetrates within a distance of twenty miles from the surface of the earth. Many millions of these fragments enter our atmosphere in the course of a day, but the atmosphere protects us from them. On the moon, however, they fall to the surface and so great is their number that the lunar explorers would run a considerable risk of being hit.
The difficulties that would have to be encountered by anyone who attempted to explore the moon — assuming that it was possible to get there – would be incomparably greater than those that have to be faced in the endeavour to reach the summit of Mount Everest. In two respects only would the lunar explorers have the advantage. In the first place, movement would be less fatiguing because gravitational pull of the moon is not very great, the weight of the moon being only about one eightieth of that of the earth. The second advantage the lunar explorer would have over the climbers on Mount Everest would be the absence of strong winds to contend with. The moon having not atmosphere, there can be no wind; nor, of course, can there be any noise, for sound is carried by the air. The moon is a world that is completely still and where utter silence prevails.
Adapted from Harold Spencer: Life on Other Worlds
These hard facts are conveniently ignored by those who believe that it would be possible to shoot a rocket containing human beings to the moon, from which the human explorers could land and explore some portion of the moon's surface. The explorers would need to be encased in airtight suits and provided with oxygen apparatus to enable them to breathe. Even supposing that they could protect themeselves against the great heat by day and the extreme cold at night, a worse fate might be in store for them unless their suits were completely bullet-proof. For they would be in danger of being shot by a shooting star. The average shooting star or meteor, which gives so strongly the impression of a star falling from the sky, is a small fragment of matter, usually smaller than a pea and often no longer than a grain of sand. Space is not empty but contains great numbers of such fragments. The earth, in its motion round the sun, meets many of these fragments, which enter the atmosphere at a speed many times greater than that of a rifle bullet. The meteor, rushing through the air, becomes intensely heated by friction and is usually completely vapourised before it penetrates within a distance of twenty miles from the surface of the earth. Many millions of these fragments enter our atmosphere in the course of a day, but the atmosphere protects us from them. On the moon, however, they fall to the surface and so great is their number that the lunar explorers would run a considerable risk of being hit.
The difficulties that would have to be encountered by anyone who attempted to explore the moon — assuming that it was possible to get there – would be incomparably greater than those that have to be faced in the endeavour to reach the summit of Mount Everest. In two respects only would the lunar explorers have the advantage. In the first place, movement would be less fatiguing because gravitational pull of the moon is not very great, the weight of the moon being only about one eightieth of that of the earth. The second advantage the lunar explorer would have over the climbers on Mount Everest would be the absence of strong winds to contend with. The moon having not atmosphere, there can be no wind; nor, of course, can there be any noise, for sound is carried by the air. The moon is a world that is completely still and where utter silence prevails.
Adapted from Harold Spencer: Life on Other Worlds
The two advantages lunar explorers are said to have over climbers of Mount Everest are less fatigue and the
- A.absence of severe gravitational pull
- B.absence of atmospheric canopy
- C.weightless nature of the moon
- D.absence of high winds
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: D (absence of high winds)
Explanation
The second advantage named is the absence of strong winds, because the moon has no air.