Talk:Inelastic scattering

Different terminologies

The definition given is the correct one for chemistry and condensed matter, but not for particle physics. In particle physics you will call it elastic scattering even if the incident and the scattered particle has different energy. It is only inelastic if the total energy of the particles involved in the scattering process is not conserved, for example if there is pair-production or annihilations.

Example: From the chemistry point of view, Compton scattering is an inelastic process, because the photon loses (gains) energy when it scatter on the electron, but from the particle physics point of view (or terminologi) it is called an elastic process, because the total energi is conserved. 130.225.29.254 (talk) 14:06, 3 November 2009 (UTC)