Name       : Barium
Symbol     : Ba
Atomic #   : 56
Atom weight: 137.33
Melting P. : 725
Boiling P. : 1640
Oxidation  : +2
Pronounced : BAR-i-em
From       : Greek barys, "heavy"
Identified : Sir Humphry Davy in 1808
Appearance : Soft, slightly malleable, silver-white metal
Note       : Burns easily in air
             
[Properties]

  Barium belongs to the set of Group-IIA metals known as the alkaline-
earth metals. This means they have a number of significant properties in
common. They are all very metallic in nature, for example. They are
silvery white, fairly hard, and are good conductors of electricity. They
all have much higher melting temperatures than their alkali-metal
counterparts in Group-IA.
  They are traditionally called alkaline earths because, to the eyes of
early chemists, they appeared to share the properties of both alkalis
and earths. They missed the metallic properties because none of this
group occurs in an elemental form in nature.
  Barium metal burns easily in air to produce barium oxide, and it reacts
with water to yield barium hydroxide and hydrogen.