text: Rayleigh scattering, too, can be considered to be due to fluctuations in the density, composition and orientation of molecules within the transmitting medium, and hence of its refraction index, in small volumes of matter (particularly in gases or liquids). The difference is that Rayleigh scattering involves only the random and incoherent thermal fluctuations, in contrast with the correlated, periodic fluctuations (phonons) that cause  Brillouin scattering. Moreover, Rayleigh scattering is elastic in that no energy is lost or gained.