General Description
Any of a variety of substances that contain barium. Most are whitish colored crystalline solids. They tend to be soluble in water and denser than water. They may be toxic by inhalation or possibly skin absorption. They are often used to make other chemicals.
Reactivity Profile
BARIUM CHLORIDE may react violently with BrF3 and 2-furan percarboxylic acid in its anhydrous form.
Air & Water Reactions
Water soluble.
Hazard
Ingestion of 0.8 g may be fatal.
Fire Hazard
Non-combustible, substance itself does not burn but may decompose upon heating to produce corrosive and/or toxic fumes. Some are oxidizers and may ignite combustibles (wood, paper, oil, clothing, etc.). Contact with metals may evolve flammable hydrogen gas. Containers may explode when heated.
Physical properties
Barium chloride has the formula, BaCl2 and is an
ionic chemical compound. It is one of the most important
water-soluble salts of barium-containing
compounds. Like other barium salts, it is toxic and
imparts a yellow-green coloration to a flame. It is
also hygroscopic. Barium chloride was the by-product
of the discovery of radium by Madame Curie (1898).When refining radium, the final separation resulted in
barium chloride and radium chloride.
BaCl2 crystallizes in both the cubic “fluorite” and
“lead chloride” crystal structures, both of which accommodate
the preference of the large Ba2+ ion for coordination
numbers greater than six.
Definition
barium chloride: A white compound,BaCl2. The anhydrous compoundhas two crystalline forms: anα form (monoclinic; r.d. 3.856),which transforms at 962°C to a βform (cubic; r.d. 3.917; m.p. 963°C;b.p. 1560°C). There is also a dihydrate,BaCl2.2H2O (cubic; r.d. 3.1),which loses water at 113°C. It is preparedby dissolving barium carbonate(witherite) in hydrochloric acid andcrystallizing out the dihydrate. Thecompound is used in the extractionof barium by electrolysis.
Definition
ChEBI: The inorganic dichloride salt of barium.
Preparation
Barium chloride can be prepared from barium
hydroxide or barium carbonate, the latter being found
naturally as the mineral “Witherite”. These basic salts
react to give hydrated barium chloride. On an industrial
scale, it is prepared via a two-step process from the
mineral “Baryte”:
BaSO4＋4C→BaS＋4CO (gas)
This first step requires high temperatures. The second
step requires fusion of the reactants:
BaS＋ CaCl2→BaCl2＋CaS
The BaCl2 is then be leached out from the mixture
with water. From water solutions of barium chloride,
the dihydrate can then be crystallized as white crystals,
BaCl2·2H2O, which are colorless, translucent rhomboidal
tablets or lamellae. The dihydrate is stable in
the air at room temperature, but loses one-half of its
water above 55°C(131F), and becomes anhydrous at
121°C (250 F).
Flammability and Explosibility
Nonflammable
Industrial uses
Barium chloride (BaCl2·2H2O) is a colorless, white powder highly soluble in water (25%
at 10 °C). It is quite a toxic reagent. Barium chloride is used during borite flotation as an
activator. Barium chloride also has a depressing effect on fluorite and cassiterite.
