Barium chlorate in some sodium contamination, which is undesirable for pyrotechnic purposes, where the strong yellow of sodium can easily overpower the green of barium. Sodium-free barium chlorate can be produced directly through electrolysis: It can also be produced by the reaction of barium carbonate with boiling ammonium chlorate solution: The reaction initially produces barium chlorate and ammonium carbonate; boiling the solution decomposes the ammonium carbonate and drives off the resulting ammonia and carbon dioxide, leaving only barium chlorate in solution. When exposed to heat, barium chlorate alone will decompose to barium chloride and oxygen: Barium chlorate is used to produce chloric
Isotopes of barium exceptions are Ba, which has a half-life of 10.51 years, Ba (11.5 days), and Ba (2.55 minutes), which is the decay product of Cs (30.17 years, and a common fission product). Barium-114 is predicted to undergo cluster decay, emitting a nucleus of stable C to produce Sn. However this decay is not yet observed; the upper limit on the branching ratio of such decay is 0.0034%. Isotopes of barium Naturally occurring barium (Ba) is a mix of six stable isotopes and one very long-lived radioactive primordial isotope, barium-130, recently identified as being unstable by geochemical means (from analysis of the