As briefly stated before, cobalt-59 is an isotope that is stable which is changed to cobalt-60 which is unstable because it is a radioisotope that has undergone beta and gamma decay to eject and add particles to and from its nucleus. Beta decay is when a neutron is changed into a proton and an electron, releasing gamma radiation as it emits a form of electromagnetic radiation. The process of this decay increases the atomic number by one, however the mass number stays the same, owning a negative charge. Usually after an alpha or beta decay occurs, the nucleus is left in an excited state with too much energy to be stable which is when gamma decay is produced as shown in the diagram above. When gamma decay eventuates, energy is emitted from cobalt-60
