Brittany Wrigley

4/17/15
Chemistry
Lab report revise
Hard Water Lab
Purpose: To soften hard water as well as to find which type of water works best for cleaning.
Hypothesis: By adding the washing soda to the hard water solution, it turns into soft water. Hard
water will most likely clean better because of the minerals in it.
Materials:
5 large test tubes with stoppers
Test tube rack
25 mL graduated cylinder
Distilled water
Hard water
Grease pencil
250 mL glass beaker
At least 100 mL plastic beaker
Balance
Filter paper (3 pieces)
Washing soda
Dish detergent
Metric ruler
Stirring rod (two)
Ring stand with ring
Funnel
100-mL beaker
Directions:
1. Use the grease pencil to label five large test tubes. D (for distilled water), H (for hard
water), S (for soft water), T (for tap water), P (for puddle water).
2. Use a 25-mL graduated cylinder to measure out 20-mL of distilled water. pour the water
into test tube D and stopper the tube.
3. Place test tube H next to test tube D and make a mark on test tube H that corresponds to
the height of the water in test tube D. repeat this with test tube S, T and P.
4. Obtain about 50-mL of hard water in the beaker from your teacher. slowly pour the hard
water into test tube H until you reach the marked height.
5. Place a piece of filter paper on a balance and set the balance to zero. then measure about
0,2 g. of washing soda. remove the filter paper and washing soda. reset the balance to
zero.
6. Use the filter paper to transfer the washing soda to the beaker containing the remainder of
the hard water. swirl the mixture with a stirring rod until the washing soda is dissolved.

7. slowly pour water into test tube S until you reach the marked height.
8. Fill the Test tube T up to the line with tap water.
9. Go outside with the plastic beaker and get puddle water from the ground.
10. Set up the ring stand filtration system putting the funnel into the ring and the empty 100mL beaker underneath so the funnel nozzle is in the middle. fold the filter paper and put it
into the funnel.
11. Slowly pour the Puddle water into the funnel making sure that it does not go over the
filter paper. Repeat this process until all the the puddle water has been filtered. Pour the
now filtered puddle water into test tube P up to the line.
12. Add one drop of dish detergent to each test tube. stopper the tubes tightly. Then, shake
each sample to produce suds. Use a metric ruler to measure the height of the suds.
Observations: During step 6, the washing soda being added to the water formed a white mushy
solid before dissolving. When filtering the puddle water the dirt and other large contaminates
were trapped by the filter paper causing the water to come out relatively clean. When mixing in
the chemicals with a stirring rod it took about a minute to completely dissolve everything. This is
because the chemicals would mix with each other as well as with the hydrogen or oxygen in the
water, causing it to then, as said before, form a mushy white substance before dissolving. Also,
the distilled water, with the least bubbles, (See table 1), was not mixed with anything. This meant
that there was next to nothing for the soap to bond with to make suds. The puddle water, with the
most suds, had many things for the soap to bond with because it has different elements as well as
other small traces of chemicals in it for the soap to bond and make bubbles.
Data/results:

Production of suds (Table 1)

Sample

Level of suds (cm)

Distilled water

3.5 cm

Hard water

4 cm

Soft water

5 cm

Tap water

4 cm

Puddle water

7 cm

The distilled water had the least amount of suds. In order, from least to greatest amount are
Distilled, Hard water and tap water, soft water and then puddle water, except for the dirt. this
shows that in all actuality puddle water is the best for cleaning. Although next to that is soft
water. most people clean with their tap water and that is proven to be less effective than soft
water, or puddle water. (See production of suds)
Conclusion:
Some possible errors that could have occurred would be that towards the end the suds
were not measured directly after they were shaken with the first three samples. (See table).
Another possible error could have been that the ingredients werent mixed in all the way. also,
more than one drop of dish soap was accidently used.

The hypothesis was incorrect. the hypothesis stated that hard water would be the best for
cleaning whereas, soft water and puddle water are better, because of the amount of suds. (see
table 1)
If this experiment could be redone, more samples would be taken from different areas
outside. such as river water or pond water. also to obtain more accurate data, these should all be
done at relatively the same time and shaken at relatively the same force. Some different
equipment would have to be only a better and faster filter for the puddle water. As well as a tool
to shake the test tubes in a safe way. A mistake i learned from was that the answers may not be so
accurate due to the fact that there was about two or three minutes before measuring the height of
the bubbles.
1. Which sample produced the most suds? Which sample produced the least suds? Set up
your own water hardness scale based on your data. What is the relative hardness of the
local water samples?
Answer: The puddle sample produced the most suds at 7 cm. the distilled water produced the
least suds at 3.5 cm. The relative hardness of the Tap water is the same as the hard water sample.
2. The hard water you used was prepared by adding 1 gram of magnesium sulfate per liter
of distilled water. what is its hardness in grams per gallon?
Answer: 1 gram of MgSO4 X 3.78541 liters
1 liter= 0.264172 gal.
hardness in grams per gallon = 1g/0.264172gal
3. The compound in the washing soda is sodium carbonate. How did the sodium carbonate
soften the hard water?
Answer: The washing soda softened the hard water by dissolving the MgSO4 that produces
limescale one faucets. and other taps or places with hard water.
4. Remember that most compounds of alkaline earth metals do not dissolve easily in water.
what is the white solid that formed when the washing soda was added to the solution of
magnesium sulfate?
Answer: The white solid that formed when the washing soda was added to the solution of
magnesium sulfate was the washing soda actually bonding with the magnesium sulfate in the
water.
5. Could the procedure be changed to make the results more quantitative? explain.
Answer: although the procedure is very well and detailed, they should be made more clear
about when and where to get and measure the water. Also, there should be a step at the beginning
saying that the people doing the lab should convert liters to gallons.