CHEMISTRY

INVESTIGATORY
PROJECT
TOPIC- ANALYSIS OF HARD WATER
NAME- ADITYA PANDEY
CLASS- XI
SEC- D
ROLL- 01
SCHOOL- DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL, RUBY
PARK KOLKATA
 ANALYSIS OF HARD WATER
Introduction:
Hard water is water that has high mineral content (in contrast with softwater).
Hard water has high concentrations of calcium, magnesium and iron ions. These
ions are called hardening ions.Soaps are sodium or potassium salts of higher fatty
acids such as stearic acid, C17H35COOH . Soaps such as C17H35COONa+ are very
effective cleansing agents so long as they remain soluble in water. They react with
Ca2+ and Na2+ ions present in hard water and form an insoluble sticky precipitate
of calcium and magnesium salts of fatty acids known as scum and thus interfere in
the cleansing action of soap.
C17H35COONa+(aq) + Ca2+(aq)  C17H35COOCa2+ + 2Na+
The hardening ions enter into water as a result of reaction between slightly acidic
rain water and mineral deposits. Ground water becomes hard as it flows through
underground lime – stone deposits. CO2 dissolved in water, makes it slightly acidic
and helps in dissolved lime-stone deposits.
CO2(aq) + CaCO3(s) + H2O(l)  Ca2+(aq) + 2HCO3-(aq)
Hard water can be classified into two:-
 Temporary Hard water
 Permanent Hard water
A General Classification of Hard Water is given below:
Hardness (ppm CaCO3) Classification

<15ppm Very soft water

15ppm-50ppm Soft water
50ppm-100ppm Medium hard water
100ppm-200ppm Hard water
>200ppm Very hard water
 Experiment
Aim:
To determine the hardness of a water sample.
Requirements:
250ml conical flask, funnel, beaker, burette, pipette, standard
EDTA(Na2H2Y)solution, buffer solution(pH=10),Erichrome Black T(EBT) indicator.
Theory:
The concentration of hardening ions in water can be determined by a titration
technique, the titrant is the disodium salt of ethylene-diaminetetraaceticacid.

StructuralformulaofEDTA
In aqueous solution Na2H2Y dissociates into Na+ and H2Y2- ions.Ca2+ and Mg2+ react
with H2Y2- to form stable complexes in a solution having pH of about 10. A buffer
solution containing ammonia and ammonium ions is used to maintain the pH of
the solution around 10.
For the detection of the end point Erichrome Black T (EBT) is used as indicator
EBT forms complex ions with Ca2+and Mg2+, but binds more strongly to Mg2+ ions.
Since only a small amount of EBT is added, only a small amount of Mg2+ ions is
used in the formation of complex and no Ca2+ ions are used.EBT indicator is sky-
blue in solution but its complex with Mg2+ ions, [Mg-EBT]2+, is wine-red.
Mg2+(aq) + EBT(aq) [Mg-EBT]2+ (aq)
Sky-bluewine red
Thus, during titration when indicator is added to hard water ,the initial colour is
wine red.When the titrant is added, H2Y2- complexes with free Ca2+ and Mg2+
present in water and finally removes Mg2+ ions from the [Mg-EBT]2+ complex ions.
As a result the colour of the solution from wine red to sky blue.
[Mg-EBT]2+ (aq) + H2Y2-(aq) MgY2- + 2H+(aq) + EBT(aq)
Wine-redsky blue
It may be mentioned here that for the end point to appear, Mg2+ ions must be
present in the solution. Therefore, a small amount of Mg2+ (as same salt) is added
to the buffer solution and an equivalent amount of Na2H2Y is also added so that
the added Mg2+ ions do not affect the amount of H2Y2- used during titration.
Procedure:
 Take about 100ml of the water sample is taken which is to be analyzed. If
the water sample contains suspended impurities, it should be subjected
tosimple filtration. If the water sample is acidic to litmus, 1M NH3 is added
drop wise until it becomes basic to litmus.
 The burette is rinsed with Na2H2Y solution and then filled with the solution.
The initial reading is recorded.
 25.0ml of the given sample of water is pipetted out in the conical flask.
Then 1ml of the buffer (pH=10) solution and 2 drops EBT indicator is
added. The colour of the solution becomes wine red at this stage.
 The above solution is titrated with standard Na2H2Y solution. At the end
point the wine red colour disappears and the solution becomes blue(or
purple) in colour. The final reading of the burette is noted.
Observations:
Morality of the standard Na2H2Y solution =0.01M.
Volume of water taken for each titration = 20.0ml
Burette readings:
Initial Reading Final Reading Volume of Na2H2Y
used
1. 4.4 8.9 4.5 ml

Calculations:
 TAP WATER
The volume of titrant used = 4.5 ml
Morality of titrant solution = 0.01 M
Moles of titrant used = M x V/1000 = 0.01 x 4.5/1000
Mass of Na2H2Y = Moles of Ca2+ = 0.01 x 4.5/1000
Mass of equivalent CaCO3 = 0.01 x 4.5/1000 x 100gm = 45 x 104 gm
(Here 100g is the molar mas of
CaCO3)
Mass of CaCO3 per litre = 45 x 104/20 x 1000 = 50 x 45 x 104mg/l
Therefore hardness= 225 ppm
 Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to my teacher Mrs.
Alokananda Bandyopadhyay for providing us with an
opportunity to perform this experiment. I would like to
express my appreciation to our lab assistant for his
guiding support throughout the experiment.
Lastly a sincere thanks to my partners , Amrita Barua,
Ananya Das, AnanyaMondaland AngiraBhattacharjee,
Anjishnu Das for the great deal of effort put into this
experiment.
Chemistry Investigatory Project
Analysis of hard water