The third paragraph of the passage provides the following analogy: "For a mental toehold, think of a ping-pong ball submerged in water." Since this analogy occurs in a discussion of how mass operates within the Higgs field, it functions to explain an abstract concept in terms more readily grasped by readers with no background in physics.
Choices A, B, and C are incorrect because the analogy of the ping-pong ball is used in the passage to help laypeople understand the difficult concept of the Higgs field, rather than to make a little-known fact more widely known (choice A), draw a contrast between oppositional scientific theories (choice B), or refute any established explanation (choice C).