Barium Arsenide, Ba₃As₂

Barium Arsenide, Ba₃As₂. - Soubeiran obtained a little arsenide mixed with arsenite by passing hydrogen arsenide over barium oxide at red heat. It may be prepared by the reduction of barium arsenate with carbon in the electric furnace.

Barium arsenide is slightly darker and more fusible than the other alkaline earth arsenides. Its density is 4.1 at 15° C. Its properties are somewhat similar to those of the other alkaline earth arsenides, but it is more reactive. It burns in fluorine, chlorine, and even bromine, without the application of heat. In oxygen it burns at about 300° C., and in sulphur vapour at dull red heat.