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
Systematic element name for 4). There are two elision rules designed to prevent odd-looking names. The suffix "-ium" overrides traditional chemical suffix rules; thus elements 117 and 118 were "ununseptium" and "ununoctium", not "ununseptine" and "ununocton". This does not apply to the final trivial names these elements receive once confirmed; thus element 117 and 118 are now "tennessine" and "oganesson". For these trivial names, all elements receive the suffix "-ium", except those in group 17 which receive "-ine" (like the halogens) and those in group 18 which receive "-on" (like the noble gases). The systematic symbol is formed by taking the first letter