>Can someone please explain this in a way this non chemist can follow?
I keep seeing this type of thing. People that took chemistry or even just learned a lot of it from books were never taught how to communicate it in "layman's" terms, whatever that is. WE DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO IT!!! Some people seem to make a good attempt at it, but it never looks likes its completely free of modern chemical theory. Solution: learn chemistry yourself. You'd be surprised how much you can learn on your own.
http://www.geocities.com/dritte123/PSPF.html (http://www.geocities.com/dritte123/PSPF.html)
The hardest thing to explain is the obvious