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
Calcium chlorate Calcium chlorate Calcium chlorate is the calcium salt of chloric acid, with the chemical formula Ca(ClO). Like other chlorates, it is a strong oxidizer. Calcium chlorate is produced by passing chlorine gas through a hot suspension of calcium hydroxide in water, producing calcium hypochlorite, which disproportionates when heated with excess chlorine to give calcium chlorate and calcium chloride: This is also the first step of the Liebig process for the manufacture of potassium chlorate. In theory, electrolysis of hot calcium chloride solution will give chlorate, analogous to the process used for the manufacture of sodium chlorate. In practice, electrolysis is