By running computer simulations of the development of our solar system, Andre Izidoro, Rajdeep Dasgupta, and colleagues concluded that the Sun may have been surrounded by three giant dust rings before the planets started to form. The researchers suggest that the materials in the innermost ring became the four planets closest to the Sun, the materials in the middle ring produced the rest of the planets, and the materials in the outermost ring created the asteroids and other small bodies in the region beyond Neptune. In one simulation, the researchers delayed the initial formation of the middle ring, causing oversized super-Earths to begin developing from the innermost ring. The researchers therefore hypothesize that ________

Which choice most logically completes the text?

Question

Accepted Answer

the timing of the initial formation of the middle ring played an important role in determining the eventual size of Earth.

Answer

the middle ring formed earlier in the solar system's development than the initial simulations suggested.

Answer

if the formation of the outermost ring had occurred earlier in a simulation, all the planets would have become super-Earths.

Answer

the innermost ring actually formed into all the planets in our solar system, not just the four closest to the Sun.