American University of Madaba

AUM
Faculty of Engineering.
Department of Civil Engineering.

Spring Semester 2016-2017.

Environmental Lab

Report # 4 + 5
(Total And Calcium Hardness)

Names URN: (University Registration Number)

Tamara al-Tawal 1310360

Submitted on: Day.Month.Year (4th of April 2017)

1 | www.aum.edu.jo
 American University of Madaba

AUM
Faculty of Engineering.
Department of Civil Engineering.

Spring Semester 2016-2017.

Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 3
Objectives ...................................................................................................................................... 3
Apparatus and Materials ................................................................................................................ 3
Procedure ....................................................................................................................................... 3
Results and Calculations ................................................................................................................ 4
Discussion ...................................................................................................................................... 4
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 4
References ...................................................................................................................................... 5

2 | www.aum.edu.jo
 American University of Madaba

AUM
Faculty of Engineering.
Department of Civil Engineering.

Spring Semester 2016-2017.

Introduction
Water hardness is the measure of dissolved mineral salts in the water, also hardness can case
water to destroy the lather of soap. The presence of divalent cations cause hardness, the two
major effectives are calcium and magnesium cations. There are three mechanisms for hardness
to form :
1- Temporary and permanent : the first is removed by boiling, which is caused by the presence
of bicarbonate of calcium and magnesium. And the second is removed by the use of chemicals,
which is caused by the presence of chlorides and sulphates of Ca and Mg.

2- Calcium and Magnesium hardness, which is what we tested during this lab, is the total
hardness that is equal to the summation of Ca hardness and Mg hardness.

3-Carbonic and Non carbonic hardness.

Objectives
The aim of this test is to find the total hardness along with the calcium hardness of a tap water
sample. And to better understand the procedure.

Apparatus and Materials

The materials and tools needed for this experiment:
1. Flask
2. Burette.
3. A sample of tap water.
4. pH meter.
5. Buffer solution Ammonia, NaOH.
6. Titrant EDTA.
7. Indicator: Murexide EBT.

Procedure
To conduct this experiment here are the steps that should be followed:
1. Clean the apparatus that you are using, like the flask and the electrode pH meter with
distilled water.
2. Add 100ml of the tap water into a flask.
3. Record the initial pH value of the sample using a pH meter, we found ours to be 8.44,
thus we added the buffer solution in our case it was Ammonia with a normality of 1, to
raise the pH to a range of 9.5 to 10.
4. After that we recorded the pH of the tap water in hand and found it to be 10.01.
5. Here we added the EBT, indicator to the flask which had a dark purple color.
6. Then we started the titration process with an EDTA solution in the burette. Which had
an initial volume of 22.5ml and a final one of 50.2ml.
These first steps are followed in order to find the total hardness of the water sample. However,
as for the calcium hardness the following steps were followed instead.
1. Used a 100ml tap water for testing, and put it in a flask.

3 | www.aum.edu.jo
 American University of Madaba

AUM
Faculty of Engineering.
Department of Civil Engineering.

Spring Semester 2016-2017.

2. Add the buffer NaOH which is sodium hydroxide to raise the pH to a range of 12 to 13.
3. Using the pH meter, see how the pH value changed. For our sample it had an initial
value of 8.32 and a final one of 12.2.
4. Then an indicator was added which is Murexide, having a pink color.
5. The sample then was putting to titration with an EDTA titrant.
6. The burette's readings were : initial volume of 9.9ml and a final volume of 21.2ml.

Results and Calculations

The results we have obtained are as follows:
For total hardness V1= 22.5ml and V2= 50.2ml. Volume = 27.7ml
For Calcium hardness V1= 9.9ml and V2=21.2ml. Volume = 11.3ml
𝐴∗𝐵∗1000
Calculate the required hardness using the following equation = 𝑚𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 mg/l as CaCO3.
As A is volume of titrant used.
B is mg CaCO3 equivalent to 1ml of EDTA, in this case B=1
The denominator is 100ml of sample.

Here are the values:

Total Hardness = 277 mg/l as CaCO3.
Calcium Hardness= 113 mg/l as CaCO3.
Magnesium Hardness= Total - Calcium = 277-113= 164 mg/l as CaCO3.

Knowing that the total hardness of the sample is 277 mg/l as CaCO3 and checking the standards
table given in the manual, we can say that our sample falls in the Hard category requiring a 251-
350 of total hardness as mg/l as CaCO3.

Discussion
We have come to find out that our tap water sample is rather hard according to the scale present
in our lab manual. Moreover, during the test titration using EDTA, it is very necessary to
maintain the pH of the solution near about 10.0 so we use ammonia ammonium chloride buffer
if we will not use this buffer, during the titration pH of solution will go lower side(acidic side).
Also Buffer is a substance it will little resist change in the pH of the solution.
In Hardness estimation the major substances in water is Calcium carbonate and magnesium
carbonate. The ammonia and ammonium chloride buffer pH is 10. At the particular pH it will
form the complex with both calcium and magnesium. So the titrant value gives the total
hardness of the solution. If you want to measure calcium alone instead of adding pH 10 buffer
add pH 12 buffer (1M NaoH).

Conclusion
To sum up, we have come to understand the meaning of the term hardness and how it affects the
water we use in our daily life. Also we have come to know its different mechanisms and how to
measure it in the laboratory.

4 | www.aum.edu.jo
 American University of Madaba

AUM
Faculty of Engineering.
Department of Civil Engineering.

Spring Semester 2016-2017.

References
Lab manual paper.
http://www.titrations.info/titration-errors
https://socratic.org/questions/how-does-concentration-affect-titration
http://www.thewatertreatments.com/water-quality/alkalinity-water-analysis/

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