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 iodide to form organobarium compounds. BaI can be reduced with lithium biphenyl, to give a highly active form of barium metal. Like other soluble salts of barium, barium iodide is toxic. Barium iodide Barium iodide is an inorganic compound with the formula BaI. The compound exists as an anhydrous and a hydrate (BaI(HO)), both of which are white solids. When heated, hydrated barium iodide converts to the anhydrous salt. The hydrated form is freely soluble in water, ethanol, and acetone. The structure of the anhydrous form resembles that of lead(II) chloride with each Ba center bound to nine iodide ligands and