Barium Barium Barium is a chemical element with 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. Its hydroxide, known in pre-modern times as baryta, does not occur as a mineral, but can be prepared by heating barium carbonate. The most common naturally occurring minerals of barium are barite (now called baryte) (barium sulfate, BaSO) and witherite (barium carbonate, BaCO), both insoluble in water. The name "barium" originates from the alchemical derivative
Mercury (element) of 46.612 days. Most of the remaining radioisotopes have half-lives that are less than a day. and are the most often studied NMR-active nuclei, having spins of and respectively. Hg is the modern chemical symbol for mercury. It comes from "hydrargyrum", a Latinized form of the Greek word ὑδράργυρος ("hydrargyros"), which is a compound word meaning "water-silver" (from ὑδρ- "hydr-", the root of ὕδωρ, "water," and ἄργυρος "argyros" "silver") – since it is liquid like water and shiny like silver. The element was named after the Roman god Mercury, known for his speed and mobility. It is associated with the