What is barium metal used for?

Element Barium (Ba), Group 2, Atomic Number 56, s-block, Mass 137.327. Sources, facts, uses, scarcity (SRI), podcasts, alchemical symbols, videos and images. read more

Barium compounds are added to fireworks to impart a green color. Barium sulfate is used as an insoluble additive to oil well drilling fluid, as well as in a purer form, as X-ray radiocontrast agents for imaging the human gastrointestinal tract. The soluble barium ion and soluble compounds are poisonous, and have been used as rodenticides. read more

Barium is a soft, silvery-white metal, with a slight golden shade when ultrapure. : 2 The silvery-white color of barium metal rapidly vanishes upon oxidation in air yielding a dark gray oxide layer. Barium has a medium specific weight and good electrical conductivity. read more

Unlike barium sulfate, barium carbonate dissolves in stomach acid, releasing the poisonous barium to do its rather nasty but efficient work. Conveniently barium, which is a soft silvery metallic alkaline earth metal, is never found in nature in its pure form, due to its reactivity with air or in water. read more