Double-contrast barium enema Double-contrast barium enema A double-contrast barium enema is a form of contrast radiography in which x-rays of the colon and rectum are taken using two forms of contrast to make the structures easier to see. A liquid containing barium (that is, a radiocontrast agent) is put into the rectum. Barium is a silver-white metallic compound that outlines the colon and rectum on an x-ray and helps show abnormalities. Air is also put into the rectum and colon to further enhance the x-ray. Double-contrast barium enemas are less invasive than a colonoscopy and have comparatively fewer issues in a viable large
Chemical element element cannot be transformed into other chemical elements by chemical processes. Elements during this time were generally distinguished by their atomic weights, a property measurable with fair accuracy by available analytical techniques. The 1913 discovery by English physicist Henry Moseley that the nuclear charge is the physical basis for an atom's atomic number, further refined when the nature of protons and neutrons became appreciated, eventually led to the current definition of an element based on atomic number (number of protons per atomic nucleus). The use of atomic numbers, rather than atomic weights, to distinguish elements has greater predictive value (since