LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Barium: Metal
built 641 days ago
Barium, one of the highly reactive alkali metals, is a gummy purplish metal that forms a black oxide within seconds of being exposed to air. ACI Alloys can supply pure barium sputter targets and evaporation pieces packed in argon, although the material is best packed in oil to prevent oxidation.
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Barium is a safe, soft, metallic alkaline chemical. The barium temporarily coats the lining of your colon. This provides a clear silhouette of the shape and condition of the inner lining of your colon on X-rays.
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Barium metal has relatively few uses because it is so active. This activity makes it an excellent "getter" or "scavenger" when removing unwanted oxygen from sealed glass containers. (Oxygen can interfere with the operation of a vacuum tube, for example.) By adding a small amount of barium to the tube, the free oxygen inside will be "soaked up." The oxygen reacts with the barium to form barium oxide.
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Barium metal does not occur free in nature. IT OCCURS IN ZINC OR IRON ORES. THE EARTH'S CRUST CONTAINS 450 PPM & SEAWATER CONTAINS ABOUT 0.03 PPM. Barium is emitted into the atmosphere mainly by the industrial processes involved in the mining, refining, and production of barium and barium based chemicals and as a result of combustion of coal and oil. Background levels for soil range from 100-3000 ppm barium. Ingestion or inhalation of dust or fume, skin or eye contact.
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Barium metal is available commercially and there is normally no need to make it in the laboratory. Commercially, it is made on small scale by the electrolysis of molten barium chloride, BaCl2.
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Barium (Greek"barys" meaning "heavy") was first identified in 1774by Carl Scheeleand extracted in 1808by Sir Humphry Davyin England. The oxide was at first called barote, by Guyton de Morveau, which was changed by Antoine Lavoisierto baryta, which soon was modified to "barium" to describe the metal.
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