Barium is partially ionized in a nitrous oxide-acetylene flame. Add potassium nitrate or Chloride to give a final concentration of 2 ppm K in samples and standards. Barium emits Strongly at the 553.6 nm line and causes “shot” noise to be excessive at high concentrations. Reducing the slit width to 0.2nm and increasing the lamp current to 20mA will reduce this. Restricting the absorbance range to 0.2-0.6 Abs is also recommended.