barium
Sign in to saveBarium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ba and atomic number 56. It is the fifth element in group 2 and is a soft, silvery alkaline earth metal. Because of its high chemical reactivity, barium is never found in nature as a free element.
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Barium is a soft, silvery metal that sits in group 2 of the periodic table as element number 56. Because it reacts so readily with other substances, barium never exists by itself in nature and is always found combined with other elements.
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Article
18 sectionsContents
- Characteristics
- Physical properties
- Chemical reactivity
- Compounds
- Isotopes
- History
- Occurrence and production
- Gemstone
- Barium in seawater
- Applications
- Metal and alloys
- Barium sulfate and baryte
- Other barium compounds
- Palaeoceanography
- Toxicity
- See also
- References
- External links
Barium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ba and atomic number 56. It is the fifth element in group 2 and is a soft, silvery alkaline earth metal. Because of its high chemical reactivity, barium is never found in nature as a free element.
The most common minerals of barium are barite (barium sulfate, BaSO4) and witherite (barium carbonate, BaCO3). The name barium originates from the alchemical derivative "baryta" from Greek (), meaning 'heavy'. Baric is the adjectival form of barium. Barium was identified as a new element in 1772, but not reduced to a metal until 1808 with the advent of electrolysis.