[Video] Q26: According to the passage, researchers have identified which mechanism as potentially responsible for the initial attraction between the microscope tip and the salt?

Explanation for Question 26 From the Reading Section on the Official Sat Practice Test 8

Right. So for number 26, it says according to the passage, 2 which just have identified, which mechanism is potentially responsible for the initial attraction 3 between the microscope tip and the salt. 4 So, um, first of all, 5 you want to try to get rid of things that are kind of obviously 6 wrong. And we, we never really even heard about gravity or nano printing, 7 um, in the passage at all, as potential things that could affect this. 8 Um, I do remember hearing about surface tension. 9 Remember we even wrote it over here. 10 Um, and I also remember we learned about Vanderwaal forces. 11 So let's just get rid of the ones that are obvious. 12 And then let's try to find part of the passage that we're talking about 13 here. So, um, it says that it's according to the passengers means 14 the answer will be found in the passage. 15 And it says, uh, it's a potential disposal for the initial attraction. 16 So we have to go back to the initial attraction between the microscope tip 17 and the salt. And I see that initial traction is right here. 18 Okay. You see that right there. 19 So, and then right here, we see it again. 20 And it actually says initial traction between the tip and this all might be 21 due to electrostatic forces, perhaps good old Vanderwal forces. 22 So it's actually the Vanderwall forces and the electronic electrostatic 23 forces that are causing this initial traction. 24 Yes. Surface tension ends up doing something, but it's not causing the initial attraction. 25 It's actually causing the 26 microscope to pull away from the salt. Um, it's like an after effect, 27 but the initial attraction is actually caused by these forces, 28 which you can find in the sentence right here. 29 So that is how you would get the answer for this one. 30 The answer is going to be D you don't want to be doing this 31 question from memory. Um, when you're down to like two answers, 32 you actually want to be going back into the passage.