Question

An element barium has atomic number 56. Look up its position in the periodic table and answer the following questions:
Is it a metal or a non-metal?

Answer 1

Hint: Metals can be defined as the elements which willingly form cations or positive ions and forms or have metallic bonds too by electron donation.
Non-metals can be defined as the elements which form anions by accepting electrons.

Complete answer:
56 is the atomic number of barium. It is present in the 6th period and 2nd group of the periodic table. Barium has 2 electrons in its outermost shell which tends to lose electrons to gain stability in order to complete its octet. Also barium is a member of the alkaline earth metal group which is also a very good reducing agent. Hence, Barium is a metal.
Barium is among one of the alkaline earth metals. The alkaline earth metals are of Group 2 (IIA) according to the periodic table. The other elements in this group are beryllium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, and radium. These elements tend to be comparatively chemically active and form a number of important and useful compounds. They also tend to occur abundantly in the Earth's crust in a number of familiar minerals such as aragonite, calcite, chalk, Limestone, marble, travertine, magnesite, and dolomite. Alkaline earth compounds are widely used as building materials. Barium has few commercial uses. However, its compounds have a wide variety of applications in industry and medicine. Barium sulfate is used in gastrointestinal (GI) system X-ray studies. The GI system includes the stomach, intestines, and associated organs.
Barium willingly reacts with water forming barium hydroxide.
$Ba\left(s\right)+2H_{2}O\left(g\right)\to Ba{\left(OH\right)}_2\left(aq\right)+H_2\left(g\right)$
Barium also reactively very actively with halogens.


Note:Metals are generally present on the left side of the periodic table and nonmetals are present on the right side of the periodic table. In between metal and non-metal metalloids are present like boron, silicon, germanium, arsenic, antimony, and tellurium.