How does hard water affect soap

Although soap is a good cleaning agent, its cleaning capacity is reduced when used in hard water. Soaps are sodium or potassium salts of long chain fatty acids. The sodium salts present in soaps are converted to their corresponding calcium and magnesium salts which are precipitated as scum.

The insoluble scum sticks on the clothes and so the cleaning capacity of soap is reduced. The cleaning action of soap is very effective in soft water because it contains negligible calcium and magnesium ions. Synthetic detergents are used in the case of hard water also because the calcium and magnesium salts of detergents are soluble in water.

Detergents are more soluble than soaps and hence form more lather than soaps. The insoluble carbonates of calcium and magnesium can be removed by filtration and the water thus obtained is free from calcium and magnesium ions and is soft. Cleaning with soap is effective in soft water. Soap lathers better in soft water and is scum free. Things become cleaner and time, money and energy are saved.

Cite this Simulator:. Our Objective To study the comparative cleaning capacity of a sample of soap in soft and hard water. The Theory Ordinary water does not remove dirt from clothes or skin because the dirt present is oily or greasy in nature.

Naturally occurring soft water does not have these minerals present and therefore detergents and soaps do not react as they do in hard water. Water that has been softened by a water softener , typically replaces the magnesium and calcium minerals with sodium or potassium; these minerals do not react with the compounds in soap or detergents so they perform as they were intended.

Not only does soft water require much less detergent than hard water to be effective, there is another cost savings benefit associated with soft water as well. Due to the fact that detergents clean more efficiently in soft water, washing machines do not have to be set on hot in order to achieve good stain removal.

In summary, hard water may make your skin feel cleaner but leave your bathtub less clean, and soft water, though it may keep your bathtub shiny, may leave soap behind on your skin. Skip to main content. Search Search. Water Science School. Teacher's Resources Activities, diagrams, quizzes Check it out! Science Center Objects Overview Learn how "soft water" and "hard water" can affect how soap works.

What can cause our water to have an earthy odor or to smell like rotten eggs? Naturally-occurring organic compounds are created when plant material decays in lakes and reservoirs. Those organic compounds frequently cause musty, earthy odors, especially toward the end of summer. The odors can be objectionable, but generally are not harmful to health. However, odors can be caused by other constituents as well, so you might Is saline water used for anything?

In the U. But saline water can only be used for certain purposes. The main use is for thermoelectric power-plant cooling. About 5 percent of water used for industrial purposes is saline, and about 53 percent of all water used for mining purposes is saline. Saline water can be desalinated for Does the use of pesticides affect our Nation's water quality? Pesticide use in the United States has increased because not only must we supply our exploding population with food, but crops and food are also grown for export to other countries.

The United States has become the largest producer of food products in the world, partly owing to our use of modern chemicals pesticides to control the insects, weeds Do you have information about water hardness in the United States? See our national map of hardness in surface water. Hardness data reflecting mostly calcium, plus a little magnesium for individual drinking-water suppliers is at the EPA Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water website.

It is important to note that the U. Filter Total Items: 2. Year Published: The quality of our Nation's waters: Water quality in principal aquifers of the United States, About million people in the United States rely on groundwater for drinking water, and the need for high-quality drinking-water supplies becomes more urgent as our population grows.

DeSimone, Leslie A.