If you think there are a lot of people on Earth (about 7.5 billion), consider the following number: ten quintillion. That's the estimate of how many individual insects dwell on Earth. Insects make up approximately eighty percent of Earth's total animal species, with just under one million known species. Experts speculate there could be millions more undiscovered insect species. Those numbers categorically defy imagination;
nevertheless it's stimulating to try to quantify. Estimates have suggested there are more than two hundred million insects for each human on the planet. To take the ick factor further, there could be three hundred pounds of insects for every pound of humans!
What effect does the comparison between human and insect populations have upon the passage?
1 It turns a serious issue into entertaining reading, although the informal tone detracts from the overall credibility of the data.
2 It contributes nonessential data, therefore thwarting the author's purpose of illustrating how large the human population is.
3 It adds interest by helping readers visualize numbers that might otherwise be incomprehensible.
1 answer
3 It adds interest by helping readers visualize numbers that might otherwise be incomprehensible.