Re: Tanning theory of dichromated colloids (was gelatin

Katharine Thayer wrote:
>

>
> The abstract of the paper states that "ultraviolet spectrometry shows
> that secondary hydroxyl groups are oxidized to ketone groups, but
> insolubilization is attributed to crosslinking of polymer chains by
> coordination of alcohold groups to "nascent" chromic ions formed by
> reduction of the dichromate." Unfortunately, just as Mannivannan et al
> commented, there is no direct proof to back up the attribution of the
> crosslinking to this purported coordination.

I meant to add that if a student in my class on writing research reports
had written a conclusion in the abstract that wasn't supported directly
by the research, that student would have flunked. But it happens all the
time in academic journals, unfortunately, and that's why one needs to
read the whole paper and not just the abstract. I do have to give D&D
credit for softening their claim by using the word "attribute" rather
than a word fraudulently suggesting a stronger connection to the data,
but it's still not really quite good enough; an "attribution" is too
speculative to belong in an abstract.
kt
Received on Fri May 14 10:27:52 2004