TASK DEFINITION:  You are given a background paragraph that describes one or more causal or physical relationships, such as a relationship in economics, scientific law, or nature. You need to come up with a fictional story that makes use of the concepts or the relationship described in the provided paragraph. Make sure that your story does not repeat the relation in the given paragraph (e.g., by avoiding verbatim copies of the given paragraph). Start by reading the background paragraph, and determine what relationship(s) are in the paragraph. Write a story that involves the relationship(s) that you determined are in the background paragraph. Try to use your own words as much as possible and not repeat the background paragraph. Feel free to make up places and events as long as they tie back to the background paragraph in a way that you can ask a question about.
PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: Soil formation, or pedogenesis, is the combined effect of physical, chemical, biological and anthropogenic processes working on soil parent material. Soil is said to be formed when organic matter has accumulated and colloids are washed downward, leaving deposits of clay, humus, iron oxide, carbonate, and gypsum, producing a distinct layer called the B horizon. This is a somewhat arbitrary definition as mixtures of sand, silt, clay and humus will support biological and agricultural activity before that time. These constituents are moved from one level to another by water and animal activity. As a result, layers (horizons) form in the soil profile. The alteration and movement of materials within a soil causes the formation of distinctive soil horizons. However, more recent definitions of soil embrace soils without any organic matter, such as those regoliths that formed on Mars and analogous conditions in planet Earth deserts.An example of the development of a soil would begin with the weathering of lava flow bedrock, which would produce the purely mineral-based parent material from which the soil texture forms. Soil development would proceed most rapidly from bare rock of recent flows in a warm climate, under heavy and frequent rainfall. Under such conditions, plants (in a first stage nitrogen-fixing lichens and cyanobacteria then epilithic higher plants) become established very quickly on basaltic lava, even though there is very little organic material. The plants are supported by the porous rock as it is filled with nutrient-bearing water that carries minerals dissolved from the rocks. Crevasses and pockets, local topography of the rocks, would hold fine materials and harbour plant roots. The developing plant roots are associated with mineral-weathering mycorrhizal fungi that assist in breaking up the porous lava, and by these means organic matter and a finer mineral soil accumulate with time. Such initial stages of soil development have been described on volcanoes, inselbergs, and glacial moraines.

SOLUTION: Ben and Jerry studied agricultural sciences. Ben was specialized in pedology and pedogenesis, while Jerry specialized in entomology and phytopathology.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: One of the main advantages of adopting a strong foreign currency as sole legal tender is to reduce the transaction costs of trade among countries using the same currency.[13] There are at least two ways to infer this impact from data. The first is the significantly negative effect of exchange rate volatility on trade in most cases, and the second is an association between transaction costs and the need to operate with multiple currencies.[14] Economic integration with the rest of the world becomes easier as a result of lowered transaction costs and stabler prices.[2] Rose (2000) applied the gravity model of trade and provided empirical evidence that countries sharing a common currency engage in significantly increased trade among them, and that the benefits of currency substitution for trade may be large.[15].

SOLUTION: Two countries are considering adopting the same currency. Country A will begin to use the currency of Country B if they agree to make this change. Currently there is a 2 to 1 exchange rate on currency from country A to country B but this changes over time. Also in order to exchange the currency you have to pay a 5% fee on whatever the amount is you would like to exchange. Under the new system there will be no exchange rate and there will no longer be a reason to pay the transaction fee as everyone will have the same currency.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: An equilibrium can also be disrupted by the full or partial removal of a reactant or product. If the concentration of a substance is decreased, the system will respond by favoring the reaction that replaces that substance. In the industrial Haber-Bosch process, NH 3 is removed from the equilibrium system as the reaction proceeds. As a result, the forward reaction is favored so that more NH 3 will be produced. The concentrations of N 2 and H 2 decrease. Continued removal of NH 3 will eventually force the reaction to go to completion until all of the reactants are used up. If either N 2 or H 2 were removed from the equilibrium system, the reverse reaction would be favored, and the concentration of NH 3 would decrease.

SOLUTION:
Jennifer and Justin are examining the principle of chemical equilibrium in their second year organic chemistry course. They are performing a reaction that involves hydrogen gas and glucose as the starting reactants, and the products formed in the reaction are carbon dioxide and oxygen gas. Jennifer and Justin add the materials, and then wait until the reaction has reached equilibrium. Afterwards, Jennifer removes glucose from her reaction mixture, while Justin removes carbon dioxide from his reaction mixture.