General properties
Barium (barite, from Gr., barys, ‘heavy’) is an alkaline earth metal with symbol Ba, atomic number 56, atomic weight 137.327, valence +2 (in nature), specific gravity 3.5 (20°C), melting point 727°C, boiling point 1897°C, electronic configuration [Xe]6s 2. The mass numbers of its stable isotopes and their relative abundances are: 138 (71.70%), 137 (11.23%), 136 (7.854%), 135 (6.592%), 134 (2.417%), 130 (0.106%), and 132 (0.101%). There are 22 radioactive isotopes of barium known to exist. Casciarola first referred to barite in the literature in the 17th century, and barium was first separated by Sir H. Davy in 1808 using electrolysis.
Abundance
Barium abundance in the Earth's crust is estimated to be about 500 ppm. It ranks 14th among the elements in the order of abundance. The mean concentration of barium in igneous intrusive rocks is 728 ppm, in consolidated sediments is 538 ppm, and the estimated mean in sea water is about 20 ppb.
Mineralogy
Metallic barium does...
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Bibliography
Adriano, D.C. (1986) Trace Elements in the Terrestrial Environment. New York: Springer-Verlag, 533 pp.
Barbieri, M. (1989) Geochemistry of barium, in Nonmetalliferous Stratabound Ore Fields (ed. M.K. de Brodtkorb). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, pp. 9–15.
Clark, S.H.B., Gallagher, M.J. and Poole, F.G. (1990) World barite resources: a review of recent production patterns and a genetic classification, in Minerals, Materials, and Industry. London: The Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, pp. 175–84.
Dawson, K.R. (1985) Geology of Barium, Strontium, and Fluorine Deposits in Canada. Geological Survey of Canada, Economic Geology Report 34, 136 pp.
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Smith, K.S. (1998). Barium . In: Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4496-8_21
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