Among lab workers who deal in high-purity metals, barium is the stuff of nightmares. An inexperienced lab tech tasked with providing a pristine sample of this metal with nice luster might be all the reason needed to reach for the antacids. Virtuoso engineers might on the other hand show off a phone pic of their least oxidized sample to their date (eh, that’s not romantic) as hard-gained trophy of their labor.

It is unfortunate that the exact degree of suffering needed to achieve and preserve metallic barium is known only to those with advanced degrees in chemistry but suffice to say that everything hinges on just how clean you can get your glove box. That’s that see-through machine with the long rubber gloves you might think of when recalling a scientist pouring out a beaker of some super-dangerous chemical. The glove box is the tool needed to get a working area free of oxygen. But not just, you know, like put a candle in there and wait til it goes out sort of “oxygen free”. Noooo no no no. It is, really, a super tedious job involving lots of steps to chase down as many of those unwanted atoms as possible. And not just oxygen but also water vapor, other gases and many other molecules that even in the minutest trace can render a batch unfit.

And one might consider getting shiny barium could be the gold standard of a job well done (or how capable the glove box itself is). An atmosphere with an only so-so purge job might be sufficient for a hardier metal like cerium or lithium but barium is in another class of its own when it comes to just how sensitive it is to oxidation or spoiling via other contaminants. That these samples come in pale yellows, browns and other highlights but yet remain undeniably lustrous is both testament to the high degree of skill of the nerd who made it as well as to the destructive power even a literal few errant atoms can wreak upon the surface of this super-delicate element.