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
Potassium chlorate chlorate can react with sulfuric acid to form a highly reactive solution of chloric acid and potassium sulfate: The solution so produced is sufficiently reactive that it spontaneously ignites if combustible material (sugar, paper, etc.) is present. In schools, molten potassium chlorate is used in the dramatic screaming jelly babies demonstration. In chemical labs it is used to oxidize HCl and release small amounts of gaseous chlorine. Insurgents in Afghanistan also use potassium chlorate extensively as a key component in the production of improvised explosive devices. When significant effort was made to reduce the availability of ammonium nitrate fertilizer in