سوال ۱۶ کنکور ارشد فیزیک ۱۴۰۴

PART C: Reading Comprehension — PASSAGE 2

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question by choosing the best choice (1), (2), (3), or (4).

Paragraph 1. At the end of the eighteenth century, physics was still an immature, undisciplined pursuit with indefinite limits and little cohesiveness among its various concerns. The main source of disunity was the unequal development of its two chief divisions: general physics, equivalent to mechanics, and particular physics, embracing the study of heat, light, electricity, magnetism, and other special properties of matter. Whereas the former was a coherent, exacting, quantitative science, the latter, otherwise referred to as experimental physics, was essentially a miscellany of empirical findings joined to a loose array of speculative theories. Physics emerged as a discipline when these two components came into closer <u>accord</u>, facilitated by two significant developments within particular physics.

Paragraph 2. First, there was a gain in methodological sophistication, entailing improved experimental design, wider, more intensive use of mathematics, and greater philosophical astuteness in matters of theory construction and verification. As a result, particular physics was lifted above the level of mere empiricism and was submitted to standards of rigor comparable to those of mechanics. The second development, not unrelated to the first, was the rise of the ideas of energy and energy conservation, which allowed the theories of particular physics to be related to one another and to the laws of mechanics. Through these and other developments, the old disparities were sharply reduced, and physics turned into a mature, unified science.

The underlined word "accord" in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to «..........» .