A mineral form of barium sulfate (BaSO₄) that is commonly white, yellow, or colorless and used in drilling fluids and paint.
From Greek 'barys' (heavy) + '-ite' (mineral suffix). Named in the 19th century because of barium's heaviness and the mineral's density, which was notable for its time.
Baryte is so dense and inert that oil drillers use it to make drilling mud heavier—it literally holds down the pressure from underground oil and gas so wells don't explode!
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