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
Chlorate Commonly, "chlorate" refers only to chlorine in the +5 oxidation state. Chlorates are relatively toxic, though they form generally harmless chlorides on reduction. Chlorate The chlorate anion has the formula . In this case, the chlorine atom is in the +5 oxidation state. "Chlorate" can also refer to chemical compounds containing this anion; chlorates are the salts of chloric acid. "Chlorate", when followed by a Roman numeral in parentheses, e.g. chlorate(VII), refers to a particular oxyanion of chlorine. As predicted by VSEPR, chlorate anions have trigonal pyramidal structures. Chlorates are powerful oxidizers and should be kept away from organics or