Scientists study what happens to the beam's particles after they scatter.
Perhaps the beam will be deflected or transformed in some way. By examining these changes, scientists can investigate the properties of the particles that make up the beam, the particles that make up the target, or both. In an elastic collision, the total momentum and total kinetic energy of the particles are the same before and after the collision. In an inelastic collision, the total momentum is the same but the total kinetic energy is changed after the collision. The beam in this experiment is made up of neutrinos .