Well, you said you're going to question their competency, which is different.
Asking question straight-up (for information, assuming competency) is different from asking hostile questions. You get better results if you can manage to avoid triggering defensiveness.
No, it's just that I feel that asking someone questions about their work has an element of questioning their competency. I encounter it all the time with my work and it doesn't bother me. I expect it. I see it as a way for both sides to learn.
You could simply ask how you make sure that no oxygen could enter, leave or react with the crystal. That's a simple and obvious question that nobody will fault you for asking.
There is a huge difference between that simple question and assuming they didn't make sure of that and the research has to be flawed or the researchers incompetent because of it.
If there isn't a good answer to a simple genuine question, you can still go that step further and start questioning competency.
