Barium green color. Barium sulfate is used as an insoluble additive to oil well drilling fluid, as well as in a purer form, as X-ray radiocontrast agents for imaging the human gastrointestinal tract. The soluble barium ion and soluble compounds are poisonous, and have been used as rodenticides. Barium is a soft, silvery-white metal, with a slight golden shade when ultrapure. The silvery-white color of barium metal rapidly vanishes upon oxidation in air yielding a dark gray oxide layer. Barium has a medium specific weight and good electrical conductivity. Ultrapure barium is very difficult to prepare, and therefore many properties of
Barium acetate Barium acetate Barium acetate (Ba(CHO)) is the salt of barium(II) and acetic acid. Barium acetate is generally produced by the reaction of acetic acid with barium carbonate: The reaction is performed in solution and the barium acetate crystallizes out. Alternatively, barium sulfide can be used: Again, the solvent is evaporated off and the barium acetate crystallized. Barium acetate is a white powder, which is highly soluble: at 0 °C, 55.8 g of barium acetate can be dissolved in 100 g of water. It decomposes upon heating into barium carbonate. When heated in air, barium acetate decomposes to the carbonate. It