Barium nitrate fighters, such as the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire, during the Battle of Britain. It is also used in the manufacturing process of barium oxide, the vacuum tube industry and for green fire in pyrotechnics. Like all soluble barium compounds, barium nitrate is toxic by ingestion or inhalation. Solutions of sulfate salts such as Epsom salts or sodium sulfate may be given as first aid for barium poisoning, as they precipitate the barium as the insoluble (and non-toxic) barium sulfate. Inhalation may also cause irritation to the respiratory tract. While skin or eye contact is less harmful than ingestion or
Isotopes of barium exceptions are Ba, which has a half-life of 10.51 years, Ba (11.5 days), and Ba (2.55 minutes), which is the decay product of Cs (30.17 years, and a common fission product). Barium-114 is predicted to undergo cluster decay, emitting a nucleus of stable C to produce Sn. However this decay is not yet observed; the upper limit on the branching ratio of such decay is 0.0034%. Isotopes of barium Naturally occurring barium (Ba) is a mix of six stable isotopes and one very long-lived radioactive primordial isotope, barium-130, recently identified as being unstable by geochemical means (from analysis of the