Talk:Boron group/GA2

GA Review

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Reviewer: ♫ Hurricanehink (talk) 14:46, 24 August 2011 (UTC)

• Boron occurs sparsely, probably because bombardment by the subatomic particles produced from natural radioactivity disrupts its nuclei. - I'm not a huge fan of the word "probably" in encyclopediac writing. Also, it's a bit of a Garden path sentence (due to "because bombardment... produced... disrupts").
• "Aluminum occurs widely on earth, and indeed is the third most abundant element in the Earth's crust (8.3%)." - isn't the first portion redundant? The prose could be tightened.
• "Gallium is found in the earth with an abundance of 13 ppm. Indium is the 61st most abundant element in the earth's crust, and thallium is found in moderate amounts throughout the planet" - you use three different comparisons there (ppm, xth most abundant, and a generic "moderate"). Isn't there a way you could have some consistency? Also, that is the first time you mention ppm, so you should probably spell out the acronym.
• "Ununtrium is never found in nature and therefore is termed a synthetic element." - IMO (based on what I know about chemistry), that should be switched around. "Ununtrium is a synthetic and therefore is never found in nature," IMO would work better.
• "Aluminum has neither a biological role nor significant toxicity and is considered safe" - I feel like there's something missing to be desired. Aluminum is used so much in everyday applications, and I think its usage is much more important than just "considered safe".
• It doesn't appear that the table in "characteristics" is sourced
• Source for "Another example is B10H14."
  • Ditto "No stable compound of thallium and hydrogen has been synthesized in any laboratory."
  • There is a citation needed tag in "Oxides"
• Does this part - "The next group-13 elements, aluminum and gallium, form fewer stable hydrides, although both AlH3 and GaH3 exist" - appear in that source about Iridium?
• What is "amphoteric"?
• "The only exception to this is thallium(III) iodide" - so is that not in a stable compound? Or is it not a typical covalence bond? How is that an exception, basically?
• Reference 15 can't cover all of the information before it. It's a journal in 1858, so obviously it couldn't include Uut.
• By chance, is there a page number for ref 16?
• "It has been noticed that the elements in the boron group have similar physical properties" - noticed by whom?
• "although most of boron's are exceptional" - exceptional typically means "unusually excellent", or something like that. I'm assuming you're indicating that Boron is an exception, however (which should be clearer if that is the case).
• "are pretty reactive" - that is very vernacular
• "One characteristic that all do have in common is having three electrons in their valence shells" - that is pretty poorly written, having two "have" verbs. In particular, the "do have" is a bit unusual, since you don't use that verb form elsewhere in the article
• "The inert s-pair effect is significant in the group-13 elements, especially the heavier ones like thallium." - especially isn't a preposition ;)
• Could you explain the oxidation states? Also, much of that section is unsourced.
• "Group 13 is notable for including some of the heaviest stable isotopes ever found" - such as?
• The first paragraph in isotopes is largely unsourced.
• ""Ununtrium" is a temporary name assigned by the IUPAC (see IUPAC nomenclature), derived from the Latin names of the digits in the number 113." - unsourced
• "Aluminum is now known" - now known, as opposed to when? It's a bit awkward of a wording
• "The gallium content is greater in a few minerals, including gallite (CuGaS2), but these are too rare to be counted as major sources and make negligible contributions to the world's supply." - unsourced
• Similar to the lede, why do you mention Iridium's exact numbering in how rare it is? You don't do the same for any of the previous ones.
• "Thallium is neither rare nor common in the Earth's crust, but falls somewhere in the middle" - so somewhere in the middle is 56th place, but only five places lower (Iridium) is considered rare? BTW, almost all of Thallium's section is unsourced.
• Ununtrium is unsourced too.
• "It is found in humans, certainly as a trace element" - why certainly?
• "It is, without a doubt, extremely toxic" - that seems rather unencyclopediac.

I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to fail the article, namely on the sourcing issues, but also prose problems. Feel free to let me know when you're done if you want another review. ♫ Hurricanehink (talk) 14:46, 24 August 2011 (UTC)