Barium nitrate Barium nitrate Barium nitrate is the inorganic compound with the chemical formula Ba(NO). It, like most barium salts, is colorless, toxic, and water-soluble. It burns with a green flame and is an oxidizer; the compound is commonly used in pyrotechnics. Barium nitrate is manufactured by two processes that start with the main source material for barium, the carbonate. The first involves dissolving barium carbonate in nitric acid, allowing any iron impurities to precipitate, then filtered, evaporated, and crystallized. The second requires combining barium sulfide with nitric acid. It occurs naturally as the very rare mineral "nitrobarite". At elevated temperatures, barium
Sterling silver Netherlands, the Baltic, Germany, and even deeper regions of central Europe." The sterling alloy originated in continental Europe and was being used for commerce as early as the 12th century in the area that is now northern Germany. In England the composition of sterling silver was subject to official assay at some date before 1158, during the reign of Henry II, but its purity was probably regulated from centuries earlier, in Saxon times. A piece of sterling silver dating from Henry II's reign was used as a standard in the Trial of the Pyx until it was deposited at the