All practice pages/Interatomic theory/Elements
Element 56, an alkaline earth metal
Heavy by name and poisonous as a soluble salt, yet swallowed safely as a white paste so doctors can X-ray the gut.
Period 6, group 2. The other alkaline earth metals are tinted, and every cell opens its own article.
Two valence electrons, which barium gives up to form the Ba²⁺ ion in its compounds.
Mined mostly as barite (BaSO₄), in China, India and Morocco, and as witherite (BaCO₃).
Carl Wilhelm Scheele identified baryta, barium oxide, as a new earth in 1774, and Humphry Davy isolated the metal in 1808 by electrolysis. The name comes from the Greek barys, heavy, after the dense mineral barite.
Most barite is ground up for drilling mud, where its weight keeps oil and gas wells under control. Barium sulfate, which does not dissolve, is swallowed or given as an enema so the digestive tract shows up on X-rays. Barium compounds also make green fireworks, and barium goes into glass, ceramics and spark plugs.
Barium compounds that dissolve in water, such as barium chloride and barium carbonate, are poisonous. Barium sulfate is safe for X-rays only because it does not dissolve.