Leann F.

Suiton
Group 5

Date Performed: 11-25-14

Date Finished: 11-25-14

Hardness of Water

Introduction
Hardness is the term used to define the measure of cations with charge
greater than +1 (polyvalent cations) present in water (Murphy, S.). On the other
hand, Hardness of water is defined by its Calcium (Ca2+) and Magnesium (Mag2+)
ion content. It can be expressed by three types of measurement, namely grains per
gallon, milligrams per liter (mg/L) and the most common is parts per million (ppm)
of CaCO3. The range of the hardness of water in ppm of CaCO3 is 0-43 soft, 43-150
slightly hard, 150-300 moderately hard, 300-450 hard and 450 very hard. Though
the name is not so pleasing to hear, hard water does not harm people, according to
the National Research Council (National Academy of Sciences), calcium and
magnesium ions present in hard water contributes a small amount on the required
calcium and magnesium needs of every human, and in some cases, the higher the
calcium and magnesium content of water the more likely for water t become a
major source of this human diet.
Temporary and Permanent hardness are the two types of water
hardness. It is also known as carbonate and non-carbonate hardness respectively
(Smethurst, 1988). Temporary Hardness can be removed by boiling to push out CO2
coming from bicarbonate ion, HCO3- present in the water.HCO3It can be clearly seen in
the reaction:
H2O. + CO2.
Permanent Hardness on the other hand cannot be removed by boiling, and is due to
the presence of Ca2+, Mg2+, Fe3+ and SO4- ions in water.
Hardness can be measured by Soap Method. In this method, soap will
be dropped into the water sample until lasting suds or lathers are formed-also called
end point. The number of drops of soap will determine the hardness level of water.
The more drops of soap needed to reach the end point, the harder is the water
(Thornes, 2001). This is because lather will not form until all Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions
reacted with soap to form precipitate (Sharma, 2006), and soap actually makes hard
water softer by removing Ca2+ ions from the water.
The general objective of the study is to know when water is considered
hard and to determine what makes water hard. The specific objectives are
1.) To test the effect of CaCl2, MgSO4, NaCl and distilled water on soap
2.) To determine the source of hard water
3.) To know what will happen if tap water and NaCl is heated

II. Materials
A. Reagents:
distilled water
calcium chloride
soap mixture
soures
tap water

magnesium sulfate
sodium chloride
water samples from different

B. Apparatus
Test tube
Dropper
Iron stand
Iron ring

Beaker
Hot Plate
Filter Paper
Funnel

III. Procedure
The experimenters prepared four test tubes and labelled each with
CaCl2, MgSO4, NaCl and distilled water (dH2O). In each test tube they placed 5.00
mL of 0.02 M of each ion in their respective test tubes and also 5.00 mL of dH2O in
its designated test tube. They also mix detergent soap and dishwashing liquid to
150mL of deionized water in a 250mL beaker, and performed filtration of the
detergent soap to make sure that no solids remain on the mixture. Using a dropper,
they performed titration of detergent soap and dishwashing liquid separately in
each test tube while counting the number of drops they made until suds are formed.
The same procedure was done using water samples from different
water sources namely, Laguna Bay, water coming from a Dorm in UPLB and
deionized water. 5.00 mL of each water sample was placed on a test tube then the
experimenters performed titration of detergent soap and dishwashing liquid
separately while counting the number of drops they made until suds become visible.
On a separate test tube, 10mL of tap water and NaCl was heated and
filtered. they obtained 5.00mL of the liquids and titration was also performed using
detergent soap as titrant. The number of drops was also counted until suds are
formed.
IV. Data and Observations
A. Formation of suds on different salt solutions

Reagents

Number of Drops
Dish
Detergent
washing
soap
liquid

5.00 mL 0.02 M CaCl2

80

93

5.00 mL 0.02 M
MgSO4

83

29

5.00 mL 0.02 M NaCl

80

18

5.00 mL distilled
No
No reaction
water
reaction
B.
C.
D.
E.
Table 1. Titration in different salt solutions using dish washing liquid and detergent
soa
B. Formation of suds on different water samples

Source of Water

Number of Drops
Dish
Detergent
washing
soap
liquid

Laguna Bay

13

45

Dorm

38

25

No
reaction

No
reaction

Deionized water

Table 2. Titration in different water samples using dish washing liquid and
detergent soap

C. Formation of suds on the filtrate of NaCl and Tap Water

Filtrate

Number of
Drops
Detergent
soap

Tap Water

33

NaCl

25

Table 3. Titration in the filtrate of Tap water and NaCl using detergent soap

V. Discussion
The experimenters performed titration using different reagents namely
CaCl2, MgSO4, NaCl and distilled water in set-up 1. It is done to determine how
much soap solution was needed by these reagents before they form suds. The
titrants used were detergent soap as primary indicator of hardness and dishwashing
liquid as the secondary indicator. Results showed (Table 1) that using detergent as
the titrant, NaCl was the fastest to show suds formation requiring only 18 drops
followed by MgSO4 that needs 29 drops, CaCl2 being the slowest for it needs 93
drops, and distilled water which has no reaction. However, when dish washing liquid
was used data showed that NaCl and CaCl2 required the same number of drops
which is 80 and MgSO4 needs slightly higher number of drops (83) before suds
started to show up while distilled water still has no reaction.
Since NaCl required less soap means NaCl has a small number of
polyvalent ions making it easier for soap anions to bind with all of NaCls molecules.
MgSO4 on the other hand required higher amount of soap compared to NaCl before
its entire ions bond to anions of soap, thus water with Mg2+ ions is harder
compared to water with Na+ ions and because CaCl2 needs the highest amount of
soap before suds can be observed, it can be said that the water with high deposit of
Ca2+ ions is harder.
Application of set-up 1 was done using water samples from different
sources. Water from Laguna Bay, Dorm and deionized water was used in the second
set-up. Result showed that deionized water has no reaction in both titrants while
Dorm water requiring 25 drops showed suds faster than Laguna Bay which needs 15
drops when detergent soap was used as titrant. From this, the experimenters
inferred that Dorm water, since it only needs small amount of soap it can be said
that dorm water contains Mg2+ and Ca2+ ions or Na+ ions only in small amount
thus, Dorm water can be considered as soft water while the water from Laguna Bay
can also be considered soft because it needs not so much soap for suds to form.
When dish washing liquid was used results showed opposite of the results of the
detergent for Laguna Bay requiring 13 drops showed suds faster compared to Dorm
which needs 38 drops of the titrant.
In set-up 3- the filtration of tap water and NaCl after heating, titration
was done using detergent only as titrant. There are two reasons for heating the
water, first is that water needs to be heated to make sure that all metal ions are
completely dissolved in the water so that soap can bind to all of the polyvalent ions
present in the water sample, and second is to determine if NaCl and tap water
exhibits temporary hardness. Results showed that the filtrate of NaCl which needs
25 drops showed suds formation faster than the filtrate of tap water which needs 33
drops of detergent soap.
Comparing the number of drops needed by NaCl in set-up 1 and set-up
3, it can be seen that after heating, the number of drops needed by NaCl to form
suds increased. Thus, it can be said that lower number of drops was obtained from
set-up 1 because unheated NaCl still has molecules which are not completely
dissolved so when it was heated in set-up 3 the molecules present in NaCl
increased, so higher amount of soap titrant was also needed before the entire

polyvalent ions of NaCl bind to anions of soap. While tap water is considered soft
water because it only needs small amount of soap before suds are formed.
From the data given above, it can be observed that the higher the
amount of Mg2+ ions, Ca2+ ions and Na+ ions present in water, the harder is the
water or vice versa.
Errors such as the incorrect determination of end point will make the
interpretation to reagents and water samples higher or lower than the true level of
hardness, and the difference between the size of the tip of the dropper some
dropper has a broken tip, thus the delivery of every drop is slightly higher than to
those fixed once. It lowers the number of drop needed by the reagent and water
sample making the interpretation of the data to be softer than the true level of
hardness.

VI. Conclusion and Recommendations

It can be concluded that water with higher content of polyvalent
cations is considered harder compared to water with fewer amounts of these
cations. It can be measured by the number of drops needed before lasting suds are
formed. The higher the number of drops required the harder is the water, and
generally Magnesium cations and Calcium cations has the greatest contribution on
the level of hardness of water.
Heating water will not always give you softer water because heating
the water dissolves all the polyvalent cations present in water thus sometimes
making the water even harder.
There are other ways of testing the hardness of water like the
calculation method and titration method. Next researchers may use these ways for
more accurate result. Also, the next experimenters should take note of how suds
really look like and the uniform end point should be observed.
VII. References:
Determination
of
hardness
http://chemistry.bd.psu.edu/jircitano/Water05.pdf
Murphy,
S.
2007.
http://bcn.boulder.co.us/basin/data
/NUTRIENTS/info/Hard.html

General

Information

of
on

Water
Hardness.

Oram, B. 2014. Hard Water Hardness Calcium Magnesium Water Corrosion

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