How is inelastic scattering more significant than the elastic, for heavy nuclides?
For heavy nuclides, the energy loss in an elastic collision is much smaller than in an inelastic collision. As said earlier, elastic collision results in kinetic energy sharing. A neutron, in an elastic collision with a heavy nucleus, rebounds almost with its initial energy giving very little energy to the nucleus. But, in an inelastic collision a substantial part of neutron energy is used in leaving the nucleus in an excited state.
