Low energy photon - electron collision

[Question Man]

Suppose a photon collides with an electron, but does not have enough energy to dislodge the electron or knock the electron into it's next energy level. What happens? Is the effect observed?

 

[CJames]

Nothing happens. The probability that an electron exists between energy levels is zero, so the probability that it will absorb that level of energy is zero.

 

[Dickfore]

The photon will scatter off from its initial direction, transferring a little momentum and kinetic energy to the atom as a whole and losing a little bit of energy, thus becoming redshifted. It is like the Compton scattering, only that instead of the mass of a free electron, you should use the mass of the atom.

 

[Waterfox]

I believe this is what happens in transparent objects
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Omr0JNyDBI0