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 peroxide and oxygen is released above 820 °C. This reaction is the basis for the now-obsolete Brin process for separating oxygen from the atmosphere. Other oxides, e.g. NaO and SrO, behave similarly. In another obsolete application, barium peroxide was once used to produce hydrogen peroxide via its reaction with sulfuric acid: The insoluble barium sulfate is filtered from the mixture. Barium peroxide Barium peroxide is the inorganic compound with the formula BaO. This white solid (gray when impure) is one of the most common inorganic peroxides, and it was the first peroxide compound discovered. Being an oxidizer and giving a vivid