ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering

Okay, so first we have to understand what scattering means. Imagine you throw a ball against a wall, sometimes the ball will go back to you (bounce back) and sometimes it will go in a different direction (scatter).

Now, let's imagine that instead of a ball, we have x-rays. X-rays are like very tiny rays of light that scientists use to look at things that are too small to see with our eyes.

So, when we have x-rays scatter off of something, we can use them to learn about what that thing is made of and how it's put together.

Now, let's talk about grazing-incidence. This is a fancy word that means the x-rays are only hitting the edge of something instead of going straight through it. It's like if you were standing at an angle to a wall and throwing a ball at it.

Lastly, we have small-angle x-ray scattering. This is another way to say that we're using x-rays to bounce off of something and scatter. The small-angle part means that the x-rays are scattering at a very specific angle.

So, when we put all of these big words together, grazing-incidence small-angle x-ray scattering means that we're using x-rays to bounce off of something at a specific angle to learn about what it's made of and how it's put together, but we're only hitting the edge of it.