“Your grandfather has to do a ‘barium metal test’ to help locate and diagnose a
ID: 1025179 • Letter: #
Question
“Your grandfather has to do a ‘barium metal test’ to help locate and diagnose a stomach ulcer. He is hesitant to swallow the suspension of barium sulphate because barium compounds are poisonous. However the doctor told him that although barium compounds are toxic, barium sulphate can be safely used in the body. Suggest a hypothesis for the doctor’s statement and design an experiment to test your hypothesis.”
However, I’m finding it difficult to come up with anything that doesn’t envolve testing on humans/animals
Explanation / Answer
Barium sulfate chemical formula is BaSO4. It is a white crystalline solid and insoluble in water. You can test this by mixing solutions of Barium chloride (BaCl2) and Potassium sulphate (K2SO4). BaSO4 precipitates. Barium sulfate in the form of suspension is used as a radiocontrast agent for X-ray imaging. It is mainly used for Gastro Intestinal (GI tract) problems such as stomach ulcer and we now the barium suspension in this case is called as "barium meal". Barium is a heavy metal, and its water-soluble compounds are often highly toxic, the low solubility of barium sulfate protects the patient from absorbing harmful amounts of the metal (a hypothesis for the doctor’s statement). Barium sulfate is also readily excreted from the body.
design an experiment to test your hypothesis: BaCl2(aq) + K2SO4(aq) --> BaSO4(s) + 2KCl(aq)
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