=One solution that was proposed suggested that scientists should avoid examining strata but instead look to the laws of thermodynamics. British scientist William Thomson (1824-1907), better known by his title, Lord Kelvin, concluded that the Earth had formed as a molten ball of rock which had a uniform temperature and which had been cooling ever since its creation. He believed that by calculating the rate of cooling to allow the Earth's rocks to solidify, the age of the Earth could be determined. He started with the premise that the Earth was 3,900 degrees Celsius at its formation. Then, Kelvin arrived at the conclusion that the Earth was somewhere between twenty and 400 million years old. The inexactness of his conclusion was the result of the unknown-at that time-exact values of geothermal gradient, which refers to how hot it gets the deeper one descends into the Earth's interior. Kelvin published his findings in 1864 and swiftly became embroiled in a decade-long controversy with geologists. Later, in the 1890s, he caused further debate by estimating that the Earth was only twenty to forty million years old. Paragraph 3 is marked with an arrow (= ). 14. The word "uniform" in the passage is closest in meaning to OA (A) reduced OB (B) constant oc (C) intense OD (D) regulated 15. According to paragraph 3, which of the following is NOT true about William OA Thomson? OB (A) He revised his original estimate of the age of the Earth later in his life. Oc (B) His findings on the age of the Earth were accepted by a large number of OD geologists. (C) His research indicated that the Earth is at least twenty million years old. (D) He tried to determine the Earth's age by figuring out the planet's rate of cooling