What makes water hard or soft?
The amount of minerals in the water, ie calcium, lime, and or iron. The more minerals, the “harder” the water. You can get an idea of the mineral content of your water by boiling away a couple of cups of water and checking what’s left in the pot when all the water’s gone. White residue would be lime and or calcium. Red stains in your bathtub, sinks, and toilet means iron.
The term hard water is used to describe water that does not form much lather with soap. The term soft water is used to describe water that easily forms lather with soap. If you wash your clothes in hard water the soap will form a grey colored scum on the water and your clothes will not be as clean as if you had used soft water. The harder the water the more scum that forms. Also the harder the water the more difficulty it is to get the soap to form a lather. Less lather means harder water. Hard water is caused by dissolved minerals. Soft water contains few to no dissolved minerals. But, not all dissolved minerals make water hard. In order for water to be hard, certain dissolved minerals must be present in the water sample. Activity What to do? 1. Experiment 2. Read and take notes from text Assignment Select the assignment that matches the activity that you did. 1. Experiment. See formal report format. 2. Read and take notes from text Assessment Make a selection that matches the activit
