In an agricultural study of regional grain cooperatives, researchers monitored 200 wheat storage silos over twelve months. Every silo that maintained an internal relative humidity below 50% remained entirely free of Aspergillus mold contamination throughout the observation period. Furthermore, among the silos where Aspergillus mold was detected, none had been treated with specialized organic desiccant powders prior to storage. Which of the following statements must be true based solely on the information provided?
- Any wheat storage silo monitored in the study that developed Aspergillus mold contamination maintained an internal relative humidity of at least 50% during the study period.Answer
- BAny wheat storage silo in the study that maintained an internal relative humidity of 50% or higher developed Aspergillus mold contamination.
- CTreating a wheat storage silo with specialized organic desiccant powders guarantees that the silo will maintain an internal relative humidity below 50%.
- DApplying specialized organic desiccant powders to a wheat storage silo is sufficient to prevent all species of fungal contamination.
- ESilos treated with specialized organic desiccant powders contained higher quality wheat than silos that relied solely on humidity control.
Answer
Any wheat storage silo monitored in the study that developed Aspergillus mold contamination maintained an internal relative humidity of at least 50% during the study period.
The passage establishes a strict conditional relationship: maintaining humidity below 50% guarantees that a silo remains entirely free of Aspergillus mold. The logical contrapositive of 'If Humidity < 50%, then No Mold' is 'If Mold is present, then Humidity was NOT < 50%' (meaning Humidity ≥ 50%). Therefore, any silo in which mold developed must have had a relative humidity of at least 50%.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Conditional Logic Contrapositive and Out-of-Scope Inference Traps
Estimated Time:1m 30s