Named after the Greek word barys for "heavy," barium is a relatively dense and reactive alkaline earth metal. It is only found naturally when combined with other elements, and compounds containing ...

Here’s how it works. Astronomers have discovered the heavy element barium in the atmospheres of two blisteringly hot gas giant planets outside the solar system. Detecting barium around the ...

There are two others with similar properties that are sometimes grouped with them, but the main rare earth elements are those 15. To make the first one, lanthanum, start with a barium atom and add ...

Element 56 went on to play important roles in other scientific discoveries — some 50 years later, Marie Curie discovered the heavier atom radium in a mixture with barium. In 1938, when Otto Hahn ...