Hard water is water that has traces of calcium or magnesium of compounds.

The occurrence
of calcium or magnesium compounds could originate due to many factors, such as dissolution
of mineral from mineral rocks, residues of metal ion and other that involves human activities.
It is the concentration of ions of magnesium (Mg2+) and ions of calcium(Ca2) that measures
the hardness of the water. An insoluble scum is usually formed with reaction of soap and hard
water, due to the presence of ions of alkaline metal. The difficulty for the formation of foam
with soap is the reason why its called “hard water”

Categorisation of hard water is divided into temporary and permanent hard water depending
on the different chemical compound in hard water. Permanent hard water comprises of calcium
and/or magnesium sulphate principally, while for temporary hard water have the main
composition of calcium and/or magnesium bicarbonate. For temporary hard water, the hardness
of water is eliminated by the process of heating. Boiling hard water decomposes magnesium
bicarbonate (Mg(HCO3)2) and calcium bicarbonate(Ca(HCO3)2) to form precipitate of
magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)2) and calcium carbonate (CaCO3. Such process causes the
hard water to be softened. The chemical reaction is shown in eq.(1). The heating process causes
the formation of mineral scale as the solid sodium and/or magnesium carbonate are deposited
on the wall. Such phenomena are a disadvantage when its used for household piping system
application. Furthermore, when the heated water flows through the piping, it reduces the inner
diameter and the water flow. As a result, pipeline cracks occur due to its high pressure of water
flowing through a small diameter of pipe.

𝐷𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒
𝐶𝑎/𝑀𝑔(𝐻𝐶𝑂3 )2(𝑎𝑞) → 𝐶𝑎/𝑀𝑔𝐶𝑂3(𝑠) + 𝐶𝑂2(𝑔) + 𝐻2 𝑂(𝑙) (1)