East Point School

Chemistry Project Work

Session- 2021-22
Name- Saanvi Shee
Class- XI Sec- B Roll- 10
Stream- Bio Science
Topic- Analysis of Hard Water
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Topic-
Analysis of Hard Water
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Content
Sl No Topics Page
1 Certificate 3

2 Acknowledgment 4

3 Declaration 5

4 Objective 6

5 Introduction 6-7

6 Types of Hard Water 8-9

7 Effects of Hard water 10-11

8 Softening 11-13

9 Measurement 13-14

10 A general classification of hard 14

water

11 Experiment 15-20

12 Calculation and Result 20-24

13 Conclusion & Bibliography 25-26

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Certificate
This is to certify that Saanvi Shee who is
a student of Class XI B has successfully
completed the research on the below
mentioned project under the guidance
of Mr. Arindam Ghosh during the year
2021-22 in partial fulfillment of the
Class XI of the Central Board of
Secondary Education

Principal, Subject Teacher,

Ms.K Chakraborty Mr. Arindam Ghosh
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Acknowledgement
I would like to express my special thanks
of gratitude to our teacher Mr. Arindam
Ghosh who gave me the opportunity to
do this wonderful project. Secondly, I
would like to thank the books and the
websites which helped me a lot, also the
authors who wrote wonderful piece of
works. Moreover, this project helped me
a lot in expanding my current
knowledge as I came across many new
information while doing this project.
Also, I would like to thank my parents
and friends who helped me a lot in
finishing this project in the given
amount of time
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Declaration
I hereby declare that the project work
entitled ”Analysis of Hard Water”
submitted to the “East Point School” is a
record of the original work done by me.
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Objective
To determine the hardness of various water samples.

Introduction
Hard water is water that has high mineral content (in
contrast with soft water). Hard water has high
concentrations of calcium, magnesium and iron ions.
These ions are called hardening ion.
In low concentrations, these ions are not considered
harmful for domestic use, but when present in higher
concentrations these ions interfere with the cleansing
action of soaps and accelerate the corrosion of steel
pipes, especially those carrying hot water
Soaps are sodium or potassium salts of higher fatty
acids such as stearic acid, C17H35COOH . Soaps such as
C17H35COONa+ are very effective cleansing agents so
long as they remain soluble in water. They react with
Ca2+ and Na2+ ions present in hard water and form an
insoluble sticky precipitate of calcium and magnesium
salts of fatty acids known as scum and thus interfere in
the cleansing action of soap.

C17H35COONa+ (aq) + Ca2+ (aq) C17H35COOCa2+ +2Na+

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Hardness of water can be defined as the soap –

consuming capacity of water, or the capacity of
precipitation of soap as a characteristic property of
water that prevents the lathering of soap. It is
responsible for the formation of boiler scales on tea
kettles and vessels used for heating water. The boiler
scale reduces the efficiency of transfer of heat because
it is a bad conductor of heat. Formation of boiler scale
in the pipes carrying hot water reduces the rate of flow
of water in them. On extreme cases due to overheating
the boiler or the pipes may break due to overheating.
The boiler scale consists of primarily of the carbonates
of hardening ions.

Ca2+ (aq) + 2HCO3-(aq) CaCO3(s)+CO2(g)+H2O(l)

The hardening ions enter into water as a result of

reaction between slightly acidic rain water and mineral
deposits. Ground water becomes hard as it flows
through underground lime – stone deposits. The water
from the deep wells has higher degree of hardness as
compared with water from shallow wells because of
greater interaction with the lime – stone deposits.CO2
dissolved in water, makes it slightly acidic and helps in
dissolved lime-stone deposits.
CO2 (aq) + CaCO3(s) + H2O(l) Ca2+ (aq) + 2HCO3-(aq)
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Types of hard water

Hard water can be classified into two: -
➢ Temporary Hard water
➢ Permanent Hard water

Temporary hardness
Temporary hardness is caused by a combination of
calcium ions and bicarbonate ions in the water. it can be
removed by boiling the water or by the addition of lime
(calcium hydroxide). Boiling promotes the formation of
carbonate from bicarbonate and precipitates calcium
carbonate out of the solution, leaving water that is
softer upon cooling.
The following is the equilibrium reaction when calcium
carbonate (CaCO3) is dissolved in water.
CaCO3(s) + CO2(g) +H2O(l) Ca2+ (aq) + 2HCO3-(aq)

Upon heating, less CO2 is able to dissolve into the

water. Since there is not enough CO2 around, the
reaction cannot proceed from left to right, and
therefore the CaCO3 will not dissolve rapidly. Instead,
the reaction is forced to the left to re-establish
equilibrium, and solid CaCO3 is formed.
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Boiling the water will remove hardness as long as the

solid CaCO3 that participates out is removed. After
cooling, if enough time passes, the water will pick up
CO2 from the air and the reaction will again proceed
from left to right ,allowing the CaCO3 re-dissolve into
the water.
Permanent hardness
Permanent hardness is hardness that cannot be
removed by boiling. It is usually caused by the
presence of calcium and magnesium sulphates and or
chlorides which become more soluble as the
temperature rises. Despite the name, permanent
hardness can be removed using a water softener or ion
exchange column, where the calcium and magnesium
ions are exchanged with the sodium ions in the
column.
Hard water causes scaling, which is the left – over
mineral deposits that are formed after the hard water
had evaporated. This is also known as lime scale the
scale can clog pipes , ruin water heaters , coat the
inside of tea and coffee pots and decrease the life of
toilet flushing units.Hardening must be constantly
monitored to avoid costly breakdowns in contact with
water. Hardness is controlled by the addition of
chemicals and by large-scale softening with zeolites
(Na2Al2SiO8.xH2O) and ion exchange resins.
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Effects of hard water

These are advantages and disadvantages for people
who live in hard water areas.
Disadvantages of hard water
➢ It is difficult to form lather with soap.
➢ Scum may form in a reaction with soap thus
wasting soap.
➢ Lime scale (a hard crust) forms inside kettles. This
wastes energy whenever you boil a kettle.
➢ Hot water pipes fur up. Lime scale starts to coat
the inside of the pipes which can eventually can
get blocked up.
Advantages of hard water
➢ Some people prefer the taste.
➢ Calcium ions in the water are good for children’s
teeth and bones.
➢ It helps to reduce heart disease.
➢ A coating of lime scale onside copper pipes or
especially old lead pipes sops poisonous salts
dissolving into water
EFFECTS ON SKIN
Some confusion may arise after a first experience with
soft water. Hard water does lather well with soap and
leaves a “clean feeling”. Soft water lathers better than
hard water but leaves a “slippery feeling” on the skin
after use with soap. Some providers of water softening
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equipment claim that the “slippery feeling” after

showering in soft water is due to “clean skin” and
absence of friction causing soap scum.
However, the chemical explanation is that softened
water, because of its sodium content, has a much
reduced ability to combine with the soap film on the
body; therefore, the soap is much more difficult to
rinse off. Solution are to use less soap or a synthetic
liquid body wash.

SOFTENING
It is often considered desirable to soften hard water.
This is because the calcium and Magnesium ions block
the oil emulsifying action of soap due to the formation
of insoluble scum. Large amount of soap has to be
used to counteract this. Most modern soaps and
detergents contain ingredients that at least partly
prevent this effect and detergents are available that
are chemically completely unaffected by the hardness.
This makes hardness removal/softening an optional
rather than a necessary water treatment except
possibly in the case of extremely hard water. Where
softening is practiced it is often recommended to
soften only the water sent to domestic hot water
systems so as to prevent damage due to scale
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formation in water heaters. Another reason for this is

to avoid adding sodium or potassium from the softener
to cold water taken for human consumption while still
providing softening for hot water used in washing and
bathing.
PROCESS
A water softener works on the principle of cation or ion
exchange in which hardening ions are exchanged for
Sodium or Potassium ions, effectively reducing the
concentration of hardness to tolerable levels and thus
making the water softer and giving it a smoother
feeling.
The most economical way to soften household water is
with an ion exchange water Softener. This unit uses
Sodium Chloride (NaCl) to recharge beads made of the
ion exchange resins that exchange hardness mineral
ions for sodium ions. Artificial or natural zeolites can
also be used.
As the hard water passes through the beads, the
hardness mineral ions are preferentially absorbed,
displacing the sodium ions. This process is called ion
exchange. When bead or sodium zeolite has a low
concentration of sodium ions left, it is exhausted, and
can no longer soften water. The resin is recharged by
flushing with salt water. The high excess concentration
of sodium ions alter the equilibrium between the ions
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in solution and the ions held on the surface of the

resin, resulting in replacement of the hardness mineral
ions on the resin or zeolite with sodium ions. The
resulting saltwater and mineral ion solution is then
rinsed away, and the resin is ready to start the process
all over again. This cycle can be repeated many times.
Potassium chloride may also be used to regenerate the
resin beads. It exchanges the hardness ions for
potassium. It also will exchange naturally occurring
sodium for potassium resulting in sodium-free soft
water.
Some softening processes in industry use the same
method, but on a much larger scale. These methods
create as enormous amount of salty water that is
costly to treat and dispose of.

MEASUREMENT
The simple way to determine the hardness of water is
the lather/froth test:
When agitated, lathers easily in soft water but not in
hard water. More exact measurements of hardness
can be obtained through a wet titration. Although
water hardness usually measures only the total
concentrations of Calcium and Magnesium (the two
most prevalent, divalent metal ions), iron, Aluminium,
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and Manganese may also be present at elevated levels

in some geographical locations.
The degree of hardness in water depends on the extent
of hardening ions present in water. The concentration
of hardening ions is a water sample is generally
expressed as though the hardness is due exclusively to
CaCO3. The units or hardness is mg CaCO3/litre which
is same as parts per million (ppm) CaCO3.

A General Classification of Hard

Water is given below:

Hardness (ppm CaCO3) Classification

<15ppm Very soft water

15ppm-50ppm Soft water
50ppm-100ppm Medium hard water
100ppm-200ppm Hard water
>200ppm Very hard water
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Experiment

Aim
To determine the hardness of a water sample
Requirements
250ml conical flask, funnel, beaker, burette, pipette.
Standard EDTA(Na2H2Y) solution, buffer
solution(pH=10), Erichrome Black T(EBT) indicator
Theory
The concentration of hardening ions in water can be
determined by a titration technique, the titrant is the
disodium salt of ethylene-diaminetetraaceticacid
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In aqueous solution Na2H2Y dissociates into Na+ and

H2Y2- ions.Ca2+ and Mg2+ react with H2Y2- to form stable
complexes in a solution having pH of about 10.a buffer
solution containing ammonia and ammonium ions is
used to maintain the pH of the solution around 10.
For the detection of the end point Erichrome Black T
(EBT) is used as indicator EBT forms complex ions with
Ca2+ and Mg2+, but binds more strongly to Mg2+ ions.
Since only a small amount of EBT is added, only a small
amount of Mg2+ ions is used in the formation of
complex and no Ca2+ ions are used.
EBT indicator is sky-blue in solution but its complex
with Mg2+ ions, [Mg-EBT]2+, is wine red

Mg2+(aq) + EBT(aq) [Mg-EBT]2+ (aq)

(Sky-blue) (wine red)

Thus, during titration when indicator is added to hard

water, the initial colour is wine red.
When the titrant is added, H2Y2- complexes with free
Ca2+ and Mg2+ present in water and finally removes
Mg2+ ions from the [Mg-EBT]2+ complex ions. As a
result the colour of the solution from wine red to sky
blue.
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[Mg-EBT]2+ (aq) + H2Y2-(aq) MgY2- + 2H+(aq) + EBT(aq)

Wine red sky blue

It may be mentioned here that for the end point to

appear, Mg2+ ions must be present in the solution.
Therefore, a small amount of Mg2+ (as same salt) is
added to the buffer solution and an equivalent amount
of Na2H2Y is also added so that the added Mg2+ ions do
not affect the amount of H2Y2- used during titration.
Indicator
Erichrome Black T(EBT)
End point
Wine red to sky blue colour.
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Procedure
➢ Take about 100ml of the water sample to be
analyzed. If the water sample contains suspended
impurities, it should be subjected to simple
filtration. If the water sample is acidic to litmus,
add 1M NH3 drop wise until it becomes basic to
litmus.
➢ Rinse the burette with Na2H2Y solution and then
fill it with the solution. Record the initial reading.
➢ Pipette out 25.0ml of the given sample of water in
the conical flask. Add 1ml of the buffer (pH=10)
solution and 2 drops EBT indicator. The colour of
the solution becomes wine red at this stage.
➢ Titrate the above solution with standard Na2H2Y
solution. At the end point the wine red colour
disappears and the solution becomes blue(or
purple) in colour. Note the final reading of the
burette. Repeat the titration 3 to 4 times to get a
concordant reading.

Observations
Morality of the standard Na2H2Y solution =0.01M.
Volume of water taken for each titration = 20.0ml.
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Burette readings
➢ tap water

S no. Initial Final Volume of Na2H2Y

reading reading used
1 0.0 4.4 4.4ml
2 4.4 8.9ml 4.5ml
3 8.9 13.4ml 4.5ml
Concordant readings – 4.5ml

➢ pool water

S no Initial Final Volume of Na2H2Y

reading reading used
1 0.0 6.3 6.3ml
2 6.3 12.7 6.4ml
3 12.7 19.1 6.4ml
Concordant readings – 6.4ml
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➢ sea water

S no Initial Final Volume of Na2H2Y

reading reading used
1 0.0 79.9 79.9ml
2 0.0 80.0ml 80.0ml
3 0.0 80.0ml 80.0ml
Concordant readings – 80.0ml

Calculations

➢ Tap water

Let the volume of titrant used be = 4.5 ml

Morality of titrant solution = 0.01M

Moles of titrant used =MxV

1000
=0.01 x 4.5
1000
= 45 x 10-6
Mass of Na2H2Y = Moles of Ca2+ = 0.01 x 4.5 = 45 x 10-6
1000
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Mass of equivalent CaCO3 = 0 .01 x 4.5 x100g

45x10-6x102
1000
=45x10-4 mg

Mass of CaCO3 per litre = 45 x 10-4 x 1000

20
=50 x 45 x10-4
=225 x 10-3mg/l
Hardness = = 225 x 10 -3 x 106
= 225 x 10 -3 x 106
103
= 225 ppm

➢ Pool water

Let the volume of titrant used be = 6.4 ml

Morality of titrant solution = 0.01M

Moles of titrant used =MxV

1000

=0.01 x 6.4
1000
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= 64x 10-6

Mass of Na2H2Y = Moles of Ca2+ = 0.01 x 6.4= 45 x 10-6

1000

Mass of equivalent CaCO3 = 0 .01 x 6.4x100g = 64x10-6x102

1000
=64x10-4 mg

Mass of CaCO3 per liter= = 64 x 10-4 x 1000

20
=50 x 64 x10-4
=320 x 10-3mg/l

Hardness = = 320 x 10 -3 x 106

= 320x 10 -3 x 106
103
= 320 ppm
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➢ Sea water

Let the volume of titrant used be = 80 ml

Morality of titrant solution = 0.01M

Moles of titrant used = MxV

1000
=0.01 x 80
1000
= 80 x 10-5
Mass of Na2H2Y = Moles of Ca2+ = 0.01 x 80 = 80 x 10-5
1000

Mass of equivalent CaCO3 = 0 .01 x 80 x100g = 80x10-5x102

1000
=80x10-3 mg

Mass of CaCO3 per litre = 80 x 10-3 x 1000

20
=50 x 80 x10-3
=4000 x 10-3mg/l
Hardness = = 4000 x 10 -3 x 106
= 4000 x 10 -3 x 106
103
= 4000 ppm
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Result
The degree of hardness of the following water samples
are: -

➢ Tap water - 225ml

➢ Pool water - 320ml
➢ Sea water - 4000ppm
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Conclusion
This project helped me a lot in learning about
hardness of water in various samples of water.
I am really thankful to my chemistry teacher
who gave me the wonderful opportunity to do
this project which helped a lot in the growth of
my knowledge.
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Bibliography
The sources from where I have collected
information about this project are: -
1. Ncert class 11
2. www.wikipedia.org