Short Notes:

The current that powers machinery and generates electromagnetism is only one of the energy forms resulting from an atom's electrical properties. Another is radioactivity - the energy released when an atom's nucleus breaks down.

Atoms consist of negatively charged electrons, positively charged protons, and neutral particles called neutrons. Invisible forces of unimaginable strength bind an atom's protons and neutrons together in the nucleus. The nucleus of nearly all atoms disintegrate over time, unleashing some of this energy in the form of high-energy alpha and beta particles and gamma rays.

Though it cannot be seen, such radiation can be detected with electronic devices. The Geiger counter, perhaps the best-known radiation detector, translates the energy from radiation into measurable electronic signals.