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If you were walking down the road and you saw this can outside your house what would
you think? Radiation is something that makes us feel very, very uneasy, but what do we
mean when we say radiation? Radiation comes from part of the atom called
the nucleus. The nucleus is made up of neutrons and protons and it’s the centre of the atom.
Usually this is stable but if it gives off radiation we call this unstable. An unstable
nucleus will give off pieces of itself. If the atom gives off radiation we call it radioactive
and it can either give off radiation in the form of energy or in the form of a particle.
This type of atom we call radioactive and the actual atoms are called radioisotopes.
Most atoms are not radioisotopes because they are completely stable.