Barium difluoride

  • Formula: BaF2
  • Hill system formula: Ba1F2
  • CAS registry number: [7787-32-8]
  • Formula weight: 175.324
  • Class: fluoride
  • Colour: white
  • Appearance: crystalline solid
  • Melting point: 1368°C
  • Boiling point: 2260°C; 2137°C
  • Density: 4890 kg m-3

The following are some synonyms of barium difluoride:

  • barium difluoride
  • barium(II) fluoride
  • barium fluoride

The oxidation number of barium in barium difluoride is 2.

Synthesis

Barium fluoride is made by the reaction of barium carbonate, BaCO3, with ammonium fluoride. As barium fluoride is essentially insoluble, it precipitates out.

BaCO3(aq) + 2NH4F(aq) → BaF2(s) + (NH4)2CO3(aq)

Solid state structure

  • Geometry of barium: 4 coordinate: tetrahedral
  • Prototypical structure: CaF2 (fluorite)

Crystal structure of barium difluoride

Element analysis

The table shows element percentages for BaF2 (barium difluoride).

Element %
Ba 78.33
F 21.67

Isotope pattern for BaF2

The chart below shows the calculated isotope pattern for the formula BaF2 with the most intense ion set to 100%.

References

The data on these compounds pages are assembled and adapted from the primary literature and several other sources including the following.

  • R.T. Sanderson in Chemical Periodicity, Reinhold, New York, USA, 1960.
  • N.N. Greenwood and A. Earnshaw in Chemistry of the Elements, 2nd edition, Butterworth, UK, 1997.
  • F.A. Cotton, G. Wilkinson, C.A. Murillo, and M. Bochmann, in Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, John Wiley & Sons, 1999.
  • A.F. Trotman-Dickenson, (ed.) in Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry, Pergamon, Oxford, UK, 1973.
  • R.W.G. Wyckoff, in Crystal Structures, volume 1, Interscience, John Wiley & Sons, 1963.
  • A.R.West in Basic solid state chemistry Chemistry, John Wiley & Sons, 1999.
  • A.F. Wells in Structural inorganic chemistry, 4th edition, Oxford, UK, 1975.
  • J.D.H. Donnay, (ed.) in Crystal data determinative tables, ACA monograph number 5, American Crystallographic Association, USA, 1963.
  • D.R. Lide, (ed.) in Chemical Rubber Company handbook of chemistry and physics, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, USA, 77th edition, 1996.
  • J.W. Mellor in A comprehensive treatise on inorganic and theoretical chemistry, volumes 1-16, Longmans, London, UK, 1922-1937.
  • J.E. Macintyre (ed.) in Dictionary of inorganic compounds, volumes 1-3, Chapman & Hall, London, UK, 1992.

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