To help combat the growing rate of microplastic pollution, a team of researchers developed a synthetic sponge that can soak up microplastic particles from liquid. The sponge, composed mainly of starch and gelatin, does this by trapping the tiny particles within its pores. Guoqing Wang, one of the researchers, says that the formula for the sponge can be adjusted to best suit the size of particle the sponge is intended to trap, making it versatile in its potential applications. Chemist Christian Adlhart, however, claims that this sponge would be difficult to mass-produce.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support Adlhart’s claim?
Explanation
Context: A team developed a microplastic-absorbing sponge made mainly of starch and gelatin. Chemist Adlhart claims this sponge would be difficult to mass-produce. The question asks what finding would support Adlhart's specific claim about mass production difficulty.
Answer: D) The worldwide supply of starch and gelatin is in high demand from the food industry, so those substances would be difficult to source in significant quantities.
Why? Adlhart's claim is about mass production difficulty. If the key ingredients are already scarce due to food industry demand, sourcing enough for large-scale production would be genuinely difficult — directly supporting his claim.
Traps:
- A) "textiles are one of the largest sources of microplastic pollution" → about pollution sources, not about sponge production difficulty
- B) "the sponge has a relatively light weight" → about physical properties, irrelevant to mass production challenges
- C) "absorption capabilities of the sponge vary..." → about performance variation, not about production scalability