Barium fluoride frits production. Its other use is in the production of welding agents (an additive to some fluxes, a component of coatings for welding rods and in welding powders). It is also used in metallurgy, as a molten bath for refining aluminium. Barium fluoride Barium fluoride (BaF) is a chemical compound of barium and fluorine and is a salt. It is a solid which can be a transparent crystal. It occurs in nature as the mineral frankdicksonite. The solid adopts the fluorite structure and at high pressure the PbCl structure. In the vapor phase the BaF molecule is non-linear with an
Chemical element plants, the calcium in mollusc shells, or the iron in the hemoglobin in vertebrate animals' red blood cells. The concept of an "element" as an undivisible substance has developed through three major historical phases: Classical definitions (such as those of the ancient Greeks), chemical definitions, and atomic definitions. Ancient philosophy posited a set of classical elements to explain observed patterns in nature. These "elements" originally referred to "earth", "water", "air" and "fire" rather than the chemical elements of modern science. The term 'elements' ("stoicheia") was first used by the Greek philosopher Plato in about 360 BCE in his dialogue Timaeus,