Barium - A Metal From The VACUUM TUBE!

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So, today I will tell you about such metal as barium. Barium is the most active of the alkaline earth metals, it is located near the bottom of the 2nd group in the table of chemical elements. Like many active metals, to protect it from corrosion, barium is stored in either mineral oil or kerosene. Externally, barium looks like a gray metal due to the oxide layer covering it. The hardness of barium resembles lead, you can cut a piece of barium with a pair of pliers. On the cut you can observe that the shiny metal surface quickly oxidizes in air and tarnishes. Since barium is the most active of the alkaline earth metals, it reacts very actively with ethyl alcohol forming ethanolate barium and hydrogen. Though with water barium reacts even more vigorously, releasing large quantities of hydrogen, also forming, during this reaction with water, hydroxide of barium. Barium hydroxide is only slightly soluble in water, and hence the solution becomes turbid.If we add the thymolphtalein indicator into the glass with barium hydroxide, the solution will become blue due to the alkaline environment within the solution. By the way, soluble compounds of barium are toxic and you need to be extremely careful while working with them. For ions of barium there is a very good quality experiment we can do. If to the solution of salt of barium, such as the barium chloride, we add some sodium sulfate, then what will form is an almost insoluble in water white precipitate of barium sulfate. This reaction is very sensitive and it can be a very helping hand in detecting even small concentrations of sulphate in water. By the way, barium sulfate is used in medicine for x-ray studies of the gastrointestinal tract such as the Radiocontrast substance. Barium metal on its own burns quite well in air. However, due to the relatively low melting temperature it does not burn completely, and burns with pumping action. I think this behavior is caused by the partially formed peroxide of barium, which reacts with the metal barium, and in that time the combustion is briefly enhanced. As a result of barium burning in the air we get oxide of barium. This oxide is used to create high-temperature superconducting ceramics, as well as an additive in the specialty glass GroGlass with low refractive index. On the surface of a tree barium burns more intensely because of an additional reaction with the cellulose from wood. If a piece of barium is rubbed on a file, you will notice the formation of small sparks, from the combustible particles of barium on air. Like other active metals, barium can react with sand, recovering silicon from its oxide. With sulfur the reaction goes rapidly, as with strontium. Nowadays the metal barium is mainly used as an additive to aluminum alloy – silumin. In the heyday of tube radio, barium was used as a getter, that is the absorber of gases in vacuum tubes to maintain high vacuum in them. If you break a lamp, you can see how quickly a thin layer of barium oxidizes. Also, compounds of barium are used in pyrotechnics to create the green color. Now you have learned more about one of the elements, if you want to continue the series with metals, subscribe to my channel and give some likes to see many more new and interesting!