Lab Report Testing the Hardness of Water

Lab Report Testing the Hardness of Water

Water is the most important molecule that exists on the Earth. Without water living beings would not be able to live. Water is used for an immeasurable number of things. There are many properties of water, which makes this molecule so unique. One which people overlook is hardness. Hardness is defined in the Chemistry: The Central Science by Prentice Hall's as being "water that contains a relatively high concentration of Ca2+, Mg2+, and other divalent cations." Water containing these ions is not a health hazard; however, it is a problem for industries and households. Therefore, the hardness of water is vital to understand in order to prevent the problems it could cause.

For one to have a better understanding of hardness, you must know how water becomes hard or what causes water to become hard. All water that we use is freshwater which is transported through many pipes. The ions Ca2+ and Mg2+ react with water and form insoluble substances which causes blockage and deposits to form. Some examples of how this affects industries and households are the insoluble substances that form and cause soap scum, scaling in water heaters in factories, and clogging of pipes which transports water places. There are many techniques in which water undergoes in order to decrease the amount of ions in the water before the water comes to your faucet. Although people can take most ions out of the water, not all ions can be removed. The following chart shows the classifications of water and their hardness. In this chart, 1 ppm hardness is equal to 1 part of CaCO3 per million parts water, which is also equal to 1 mg CaCO3 in 1 liter of water.

Table A

Concentration mg/L CaCO3 Description

0 - 75...

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...he dorm and the house. This is the reason that the tests in the lab gave data to support this new hypothesis: water from the tap in a residential area is less hard then areas farther away from the water purifying company.

References

1. Brown, Theodore L., H. Eugene LeMay Jr., Bruce E. Bursten. Chemistry: The Central Science. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2000.

2. Thompson, Stephen. PSU Version of Chemtrek: August 2000 to July 2001. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 2000.

3. http://courses.chem.psu.edu/chem14/water.pdf.

4. http://www.cciw.ca/gems/atlas-gwq/gems12.htm.

5. Hardness and Water Quality. http://fluid.state.ky.us/ww/ramp/rmhard.htm.

6. http://www.cciw.ca/gems/atlas-gwq/gems10.htm.

Additional credit is given...for their contributions from the dorm tap water, and the house tap water. Also, for their data given from the same lab procedure.