Barium hydroxide, it absorbs very little CO in aqueous solutions and is therefore insensitive to atmospheric fluctuations. This property is used in calibrating pH equipment. Volatile barium compounds burn with a green to pale green flame, which is an efficient test to detect a barium compound. The color results from spectral lines at 455.4, 493.4, 553.6, and 611.1 nm. Organobarium compounds are a growing field of knowledge: recently discovered are dialkylbariums and alkylhalobariums. Barium found in the Earth's crust is a mixture of seven primordial nuclides, barium-130, 132, and 134 through 138. Barium-130 undergoes very slow radioactive decay to xenon-130 by
Barium sulfate from barite, which is often highly impure. Barite is processed by carbothermal reduction (heating with coke) to give barium sulfide: In contrast to barium sulfate, barium sulfide is soluble in water and readily converted to the oxide, carbonate, and halides. To produce highly pure barium sulfate, the sulfide or chloride is treated with sulfuric acid or sulfate salts: Barium sulfate produced in this way is often called "blanc fixe", which is French for "permanent white." Blanc fixe is the form of barium encountered in consumer products, such as paints. In the laboratory barium sulfate is generated by combining solutions of