Final answer:
The text's primary theme is a discussion of engineering accidents due to incomplete application of knowledge, using historical examples like the Tacoma Bridge failure and the concept of Murphy's Law.
Step-by-step explanation:
The primary theme of the text discussing the Tacoma Bridge failure and Murphy's Law is best described as: B) A discussion of accidents in a world with incomplete understanding. The text refers to various historical failures like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse and airplane disasters, which are used to illustrate the broader point that without complete application of relevant knowledge—especially in design and engineering—disasters can happen. These accounts encourage the reader to acknowledge the complexities of engineering tasks and the consequences of overlooking critical factors like resonance in structures, which led to the catastrophic failure of the Tacoma Bridge. Murphy's Law, implying that anything that can go wrong will go wrong, is used as a thematic device to highlight the importance of meticulousness in design and engineering processes.