what is chemically softened water
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Water can be chemically softened on a large scale by the addition of just enough lime to precipitate the calcium as carbonate and the magnesium as hydroxide, whereupon sodium carbonate is added to remove the remaining calcium salts.Ion exchangeis a common industrial method of water softening.
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What is softened water and how does it work?
What Is Softened Water? Softened water is the opposite of hard water. Water softening is a water filtration process that removes hard minerals and chemicals such as calcium and magnesium from water. Keep in mind that water softening is not the same as water purification and will not remove all contaminants.
What chemicals are used to soften water?
Water softening is achieved either by adding chemicals that form insoluble precipitates or by ion exchange. On a small scale, chemicals used for softening include ammonia , borax , calcium hydroxide (slaked lime), or trisodium phosphate, usually in conjunction with sodium carbonate (soda ash).
How is hard water softened by sodium and calcium?
Hard water鈥攃aused by the presence of calcium and magnesium ions, which form insoluble precipitates with soaps鈥攊s softened by exchanging its calcium and magnesium ions with sodium ions.
Is softening of water the same as purification?
It is obvious that the softening of water must not be confused as 鈥減urification鈥?of water, as sometimes happens. The softening of water does not change any characteristics of water, included the total salinity, except the contents of calcium and magnesium, which is replaced by sodium.
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