Baryte

In our culture, we often think of being heavy as a bad thing. Well, here’s a rock to correct that notion. Named after the Greek word for heavy, baryte is one of the heaviest nonmetallic minerals there is. It’s so heavy, it’s literally used as a weighting agent for drilling fluids (the deeper the hole, the more is needed). It’s so dense, it’s even impenetrable to x-rays and gamma rays. Many hospitals, power plants, and labs are made safe by concrete that’s been mixed with baryte, which then acts as a shield against radiation. Safe enough to drink, baryte also allows doctors to get a noninvasive peek at our insides by coating our digestive tract. Considering all of this, it becomes absurd to associate lightness with goodness and positivity, and heaviness as something dark or best avoided. Further upending that stereotype, baryte can be quite pale in color, sometimes to the point of being transparent or pure white. Perhaps baryte is here to show us that there are times when a bit of weight is exactly what’s needed most.