Editing Inelastic scattering (section)

{{short description|Particle scattering in which kinetic energy is not conserved}}

In [[chemistry]], [[nuclear physics]], and [[particle physics]], '''inelastic scattering''' is a process in which the internal states of a particle or a system of particles change after a collision. Often, this means the [[kinetic energy]] of the incident particle is not [[Conserved quantity|conserved]] (in contrast to [[elastic scattering]]). Additionally, relativistic collisions which involve a transition from one type of particle to another are referred to as inelastic even if the outgoing particles have the same kinetic energy as the incoming ones.<ref>{{cite report |type=Preprint |arxiv=hep-th/9912205 |last1=Siegel |first1=W. |title=Fields |date=1999 |bibcode=1999hep.th...12205S }}</ref> Processes which are governed by elastic collisions at a microscopic level will appear to be inelastic if a macroscopic observer only has access to a subset of the degrees of freedom. In [[Compton scattering]] for instance, the two particles in the collision transfer energy causing a loss of energy in the measured particle.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1016/B978-0-08-100040-3.00002-X |chapter=Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for materials characterization |title=Materials Characterization Using Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Methods |date=2016 |last1=Inkson |first1=B.J. |pages=17–43 |isbn=978-0-08-100040-3 }}</ref>