Even the placing of light elements such as hydrogen in metallic hydrides, or hydrogen, carbon and oxygen in organic substances can be determined. The pattern also shows how atomic dipoles are oriented in magnetic materials, since neutrons are affected by magnetic forces. Shull also made use of this phenomenon in his neutron diffraction technique. Brockhouse made use of inelastic scattering i.e. of neutrons, which change both direction and energy when they collide with atoms. They then start or cancel atomic oscillations in crystals and record movements in liquids and melts.
Neutrons can also interact with spin waves in magnets.
He also studied how atomic structures in liquids change with time.