An example of metphor and anthropomorphism* in science journalism:
"The team of researchers…affixed fluorocarbons to a Cu(110) surface by chemisorption, constructing chains of CF3 molecules terminated by a CF2 molecule – up to four molecules in total…
The researchers applied an electron impulse to the foremost CF3 molecule, causing it to spit out a fluorine atom along the chain. The second CF3 absorbed this atom, but finding itself unstable, ejected its leading fluorine towards the third molecule. This in turn passed on a fluorine of its own, which was taken up by the CF2 molecule in fourth position.
Chemistry World
Matthew Blow (2021) Molecular Newton's cradle challenges theory of transition states, Chemistry World
Read "A molecular Newton's cradle?"
(* The CF4 molecule does not literally 'find itself unstable' and so consequently eject an atom. This is figurative language, presenting the molecule as an sentient agent that has awareness and acts deliberately.)
Read examples of anthropomorphism in science
