As neutrons pass through matter, they make occasional elastic collisions with nuclei. 當中子穿過物質時,偶而與核發生彈性碰撞。
Additional insight is gained by examining the elastic collision of equally massive particles in the center-of-mass frame of reference. 對質量相等的兩質點的彈性碰撞更徹底的理解,可通過質心參照系而獲得。