BariumBarium is a chemical element with the symbol Ba and atomic number 56. It is the fifth element in group 2 and is a soft, silvery alkaline earth metal. Because of its high chemical reactivity, barium is never found in nature as a free element. The most common minerals of barium are baryte (barium sulfate, BaSO4) and witherite (barium carbonate, BaCO3). The name barium originates from the alchemical derivative "baryta", from Greek βαρὺς (barys), meaning 'heavy'. Baric is the adjectival form of barium.
Hydrogen chalcogenideHydrogen chalcogenides (also chalcogen hydrides or hydrogen chalcides) are binary compounds of hydrogen with chalcogen atoms (elements of group 16: oxygen, sulfur, selenium, tellurium, and polonium). Water, the first chemical compound in this series, contains one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms, and is the most common compound on the Earth's surface. The most important series, including water, has the chemical formula H2X, with X representing any chalcogen. They are therefore triatomic.
Trigonal pyramidal molecular geometryIn chemistry, a trigonal pyramid is a molecular geometry with one atom at the apex and three atoms at the corners of a trigonal base, resembling a tetrahedron (not to be confused with the tetrahedral geometry). When all three atoms at the corners are identical, the molecule belongs to point group C3v. Some molecules and ions with trigonal pyramidal geometry are the pnictogen hydrides (XH3), xenon trioxide (XeO3), the chlorate ion, ClO3−, and the sulfite ion, SO32−.
BorateA borate is any of a range of boron oxyanions, anions containing boron and oxygen, such as orthoborate , metaborate , or tetraborate ; or any salt of such anions, such as sodium metaborate, and borax . The name also refers to esters of such anions, such as trimethyl borate . Borate ions occur, alone or with other anions, in many borate and borosilicate minerals such as borax, boracite, ulexite (boronatrocalcite) and colemanite. Borates also occur in seawater, where they make an important contribution to the absorption of low frequency sound in seawater.
Term symbolIn atomic physics, a term symbol is an abbreviated description of the total spin and orbital angular momentum quantum numbers of the electrons in a multi-electron atom. So while the word symbol suggests otherwise, it represents an actual value of a physical quantity. For a given electron configuration of an atom, its state depends also on its total angular momentum, including spin and orbital components, which are specified by the term symbol.
Inert-pair effectThe inert-pair effect is the tendency of the two electrons in the outermost atomic s-orbital to remain unshared in compounds of post-transition metals. The term inert-pair effect is often used in relation to the increasing stability of oxidation states that are two less than the group valency for the heavier elements of groups 13, 14, 15 and 16. The term "inert pair" was first proposed by Nevil Sidgwick in 1927. The name suggests that the outermost s electron pairs are more tightly bound to the nucleus in these atoms, and therefore more difficult to ionize or share.
Phase-change memoryPhase-change memory (also known as PCM, PCME, PRAM, PCRAM, OUM (ovonic unified memory) and C-RAM or CRAM (chalcogenide RAM)) is a type of non-volatile random-access memory. PRAMs exploit the unique behaviour of chalcogenide glass. In PCM, heat produced by the passage of an electric current through a heating element generally made of titanium nitride is used to either quickly heat and quench the glass, making it amorphous, or to hold it in its crystallization temperature range for some time, thereby switching it to a crystalline state.
