Radiation protection, also known as radiation safety, is the practice of safeguarding people, environments, and assets from the harmful effects of ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation can come from various sources, including natural sources (like cosmic rays and radon gas) and man-made sources (such as medical imaging devices, nuclear power plants, and certain industrial applications).

Binding energy is the energy required to disassemble a system of particles into its individual components. In the context of nuclear physics, it specifically refers to the energy needed to separate a nucleus into its individual protons and neutrons. When these nucleons are bound together within the nucleus, they exhibit a lower total energy compared to when they are free and unbound.

Radioactivity is a natural process by which unstable atomic nuclei lose energy by emitting radiation. This phenomenon occurs in certain isotopes of elements, known as radionuclides, which have an excess of energy or mass or are otherwise unstable. As these isotopes decay, they release radiation in the form of particles (such as alpha particles and beta particles) or electromagnetic waves (like gamma rays).

Nucleons are the subatomic particles that make up the nucleus of an atom. There are two types of nucleons: protons and neutrons. - **Protons** are positively charged particles that determine the atomic number of an element and thus its identity. For example, an atom with one proton is hydrogen, while an atom with six protons is carbon.