Barium 56 Ba 137.327(7)   Switch element to... actinium aluminium aluminum americium antimony argon arsenic astatine barium berkelium beryllium bismuth bohrium boron bromine cadmium caesium calcium californium carbon cerium cesium chlorine chromium cobalt copper curium darmstadtium dubnium dysprosium einsteinium erbium europium fermium fluorine francium gadolinium gallium germanium gold hafnium hassium helium holmium hydrogen indium iodine iridium iron krypton lanthanum lawrencium lead lithium lutetium magnesium manganese meitnerium mendelevium mercury molybdenum neodymium neon neptunium nickel niobium nitrogen nobelium osmium oxygen palladium phosphorus platinum plutonium polonium potassium praseodymium promethium protactinium radium radon rhenium rhodium roentgenium rubidium ruthenium rutherfordium samarium scandium seaborgium selenium silicon silver sodium strontium sulfur sulphur tantalum technetium tellurium terbium thallium thorium thulium tin titanium tungsten ununbium ununhexium ununoctium ununpentium ununquadium ununtrium uranium vanadium xenon ytterbium yttrium zinc zirconium Go adjacent... Rb Sr Y Cs Ba La Fr Ra Ac

The essentials

Description 

Here is a brief description of barium.

• Standard state: solid at 298 K
• Colour: silvery white
• Classification: Metallic
• Availability:

Image adapted with permission from Prof James Marshall's (U. North Texas, USA) Walking Tour of the elements CD.

Barium is a metallic element, soft, and when pure is silvery white like lead. The metal oxidises very easily and it reacts with water or alcohol. Barium is one of the alkaline-earth metals. Small amounts of barium compounds are used in paints and glasses.

WebElements movies
[QuickTime, 1.5mb download] [MPEG, 3.2mb download] To play the movies, you need QuickTime for MacOS or Windows installed, or some other MPEG movie viewer.
The picture above shows the result of adding different metal salts to a burning reaction mixture of potassium chlorate and sucrose. The red colour originates from strontium sulphate. The orange/yellow colour originates from sodium chloride. The green colour originates from barium chlorate. The blue colour originates from copper (I) chloride. The lilac colour that should be evident from the potassium chlorate is washed out by the other colours, all of which are more intense. Do not attempt this reaction unless are a professionally qualified chemist and you have carried out a legally satisfactory hazard assessment. Improperly done, this reaction is dangerous! Select a movie icon to see flame burning in from right to left.

Barium salts impart green colours to flames. The picture above shows the colour arising from adding barium chlorate (BaClO₃) to a burning mixture. Do not attempt this reaction unless are a professionally qualified chemist and you have carried out a legally satisfactory hazard assessment.

Isolation

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.

cathode: Ba²⁺(l) + 2e^- → Ba anode: Cl^-(l) → ¹/₂Cl₂ (g) + e^-

Barium metal can also be islated from the reduction of barium oxide, BaO, with aluminium.

6BaO + 2Al→ 3Ba + Ba₃Al₂O₆

	Web webelements.com