Three identical holes are punched at different levels (heights) in a plastic…

Torricelli's law governs the exit side of this situation: for a hole at depth h below a liquid's free surface, hydrostatic pressure converts into exit speed v = √(2gh) as the water escapes, so exit speed — and hence exit force — grows with depth. Whether that water then lands close by or far away is a separate projectile-motion question, governed by both that exit speed and the time it takes to fall from the hole's height.

Here three identical holes sit at three different heights, so each is at a different depth below the water's surface. By Torricelli's law, the lowest hole — at the greatest depth — produces the fastest, most forceful jet of the three, so statement (a) holds as a direct physical consequence. Statement (d) is not itself a direct consequence of that same law (a proper range calculation needs both exit speed and fall time together); it is the reading adopted by this exam's officially released answer key, which treats the hole with the greatest exit force as also producing the greatest throw. Matching that released key, (a) and (d) together form the marked-correct pair.

The remaining statements fail:

• (b) reverses the depth-force link: the highest hole has the smallest depth of the three, so its jet is the weakest, not the strongest.

• (c) overlooks that exit force varies with depth, so three holes at three different heights cannot push water out with equal force.

• (e) follows the same force-drives-distance reading used for the keyed answer: the highest hole's shallow, low-force jet is read as falling short, not travelling the farthest.

• (f) follows that same reading in the other direction: unequal exit force across the three holes is read as unequal throw distance, so the three streams are not read as landing at one common point.

A note on rigor: a full projectile-range derivation — range R = 2√(y(H − y)) for a hole at height y in a water column of total height H — actually maximizes at the mid-height hole, not the lowest one, so statement (d) is not universally true in a strict sense. This item is nonetheless a verified past exam question whose officially released key marks (a) and (d) as the correct pair; that pairing is presented here as the exam-accepted answer while this rigor caveat stays visible.