Cross section

{
  "id": "MLC-T-CHM-002710",
  "term": "Cross section",
  "field": "Chemistry",
  "definition": "A measure of the probability that a specific interaction, such as a nuclear reaction or scattering event, will occur between an incident particle and a target particle or nucleus. It represents an effective area that the target presents to the incident particle for that particular interaction. Nuclear cross sections are commonly expressed in units of barns (b), where 1 barn equals 10^-28 square meters.",
  "synonyms": [
    "microscopic cross section"
  ],
  "subject": "Analytical Chemistry",
  "see_also": [
    "particle flux density",
    "neutron energy"
  ],
  "references": [
    "PAC, 2021, 93, 69. 'Vocabulary of radioanalytical methods (IUPAC Recommendations 2020)' on page 75 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2019-0302)"
  ],
  "url": "https://mlchart.com/terminology/chemistry/cross-section/"
}