I now live in an area with extremely hard water - you can NOT go without a softener. I started wondering what makes water soft naturally in some areas, and what does salt actually do that makes water soft?
2006-09-09 02:14:07 · 5 answers · asked by mustanglynnie 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
The minerals calcium and magnesium are not in hard water. The salt in a softener exchanges the sodium for the calcium and or magnesium, and the sodium is then flushed out. Soft water that occurs naturally is lacking the carbonate minerals is the surrounding aquifers (that is where the calcium and magnesium come from). So if you live in an area that has limestone or karst aquifers or even glacial aquifers, you likely have a lot of hardness. If your water comes from surface water (a resevoir or something) or from granitic aquifer material, it will be softer.
2006-09-09 02:18:50 · answer #1 · answered by just browsin 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As stated in previous answers, hardness in water is due to dissolved calcium and magnesium. Your water softener uses an ion exchange resin that removes the calcium and magnesium ions. This resin is a special type of polymer that will cause these magnesium and calcium ions to stick to the beads. However, the beads have a limited capacity to absorb the hardness ions. When that limit is reached, no more calcium or magnesium is removed from the water.
The salt you add is Sodium chloride which basically regenerates the ion exchange resin. It does so, by substituting a sodium ion in place of the calcium and magnesium ions. In order to do this, you have to have a much larger concentration of sodium ion than magnesium or calcium. Thus you mix up a solution, or pass water through a container of rock salt, and very quickly saturate the resin with sodium ions. Then when you go back to normal use, the calcium and magnesium ions will displace the sodium ions on the resin. The reason this works is because you overwhelm the resin with sodium chloride, whereas in your water the magnesium and calcium are much lower in concentration.
2006-09-09 05:59:50 · answer #2 · answered by richard Alvarado 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Calcium makes the water hard. A softener replaces calcium with sodium. Salt is used to regenerate the softener.
2006-09-09 02:21:15 · answer #3 · answered by Fredrick Carley 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The softness or hardness of water refers to the amount of calcium in the water. The calcium is dissolved as the water flows through the river systems. Areas with less calcium-based rocks would have softer water. Adding salt to the water helps to precipitate out the calcium.
2006-09-09 02:19:18 · answer #4 · answered by chalqua 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Calcium salts make water hard. (along with iron, magnesium, phosphates, and some others depending on area) A warter softener replaces the calcium with sodium. This increases the sodium in your diet if you drink softened water. The calcium salts in the water will not make good suds. They make bathtub ring, and diaper curds. They make boiler scale in pipes where water was heated. They make spots on dishes. Hard water can corrode pipes.
2006-09-09 02:29:39 · answer #5 · answered by science teacher 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋