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Vibrational Bonding

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In “Isotope effect produces new type of chemical bond”[1], Simon Hadlington aims to inform wider audience readers about research into a new chemical interaction known as “vibrational bonding”. Hadlington summarises evidence to prove the existence of a new chemical bond by gathering work of different researchers to explain the proof of “vibrational bonding”. The author guides us through history and supports the discovery of a new bond with experimental evidence. The article is chosen as a research feature for the October 2017 webpage of Chemistry World. Hadlington successfully conveyed the scientific breakthrough with a progressive text structure and largely appropriate language to his science based target audience. The research is …show more content…

The article primarily reads out of interest of science readers. Therefore, the author tailors his writing style appropriately. He assumes that readers have a basic knowledge of Chemistry which is suitable for wider readers of Chemistry World. Hadlingtons’ use of technical language is suitable for scientific readers but also acknowledges readers of non-science backgrounds and defines some complex chemistry terms, for example Hadlington provides readers with the meaning of Muons. Having said this, there are times where the scientific language used was not consistent for a casual reader. This is observed when the author becomes more advanced with the talk of quantum mechanical parameters. Prior explanation of this concept would be beneficial in keeping with the consistency of the article.

The author attempts to avoid ambiguity by using quotations and references to scientific journals within the text however fails to include specificities of their findings. This is shown within the first paragraph when Hadlington says “new work shows how substituting isotopes can result in fundamental changes”. This reads vague and could be further explained giving details on what was involved in the “new work” and how the results gave “fundamental changes”. What are these fundamental changes? Adding clarification would increase the interest of scientific readers as it seems the readers are

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