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Barium carbonate is the inorganic compound with the formula BaCO 3. Like most alkaline earth metal carbonates, it is a white salt that is poorly soluble in water. It occurs as the mineral known as witherite. In a commercial sense, it is one of the most important barium compounds. [5]
The water-soluble barium sulfide is the starting point for other compounds: treating BaS with oxygen produces the sulfate, with nitric acid the nitrate, with aqueous carbon dioxide the carbonate, and so on.
Historically, baryte was used for the production of barium hydroxide for sugar refining, and as a white pigment for textiles, paper, and paint. [3] Although baryte contains the toxic alkaline earth metal barium, it is not detrimental for human health, animals, plants and the environment because barium sulfate is extremely insoluble in water.
It is also somewhat soluble in acid, [19] and can contaminate water and soil for long periods of time. These concerns have led to attempts to substitute Strontium carbonate (SrCO 3) in glazes that require barium carbonate. [20] Unlike Barium carbonate, Strontium carbonate is not considered a safety hazard by the NIH.
The Chinese lead-barium glasses typically present 5-15% BaO. The source of barium in the glass in not clear; however it is possible that ancient Chinese glassmakers used witherite (a mineral form of barium carbonate) as an ingredient. [10] The use of a separate ingredient implies that barium had a specific function.
The process worked only for a few cycles and then became inefficient. Two students of Boussingault, Quentin and Arthur Leon Brin, discovered that traces of carbon dioxide formed barium carbonate. Removing the carbon dioxide with sodium hydroxide solved this problem. In 1884 they opened a factory producing oxygen by their improved process.
Calamine – zinc carbonate. Calomel/horn quicksilver/horn mercury – mercury(I) chloride, a very poisonous purgative formed by subliming a mixture of mercuric chloride and metallic mercury, triturated in a mortar and heated in an iron pot. The crust formed on the lid was ground to powder and boiled with water to remove the calomel.
Barium hydroxide is used in analytical chemistry for the titration of weak acids, particularly organic acids. Its aqueous solution, if clear, is guaranteed to be free of carbonate, unlike those of sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide, as barium carbonate is insoluble in water.