explain how swapping the \"soft\"-water sodium job for \"hard\" -water ions woul

Question

explain how swapping the "soft"-water sodium job for "hard" -water ions would influence the behavior of soaps and detergents b) Water "sofie such as sodium chloride. As "hard" water passes ers work via the principle of ion-exchange. The tank of a water softener is filled with a soluble salt through the tank, the undesirable ions in hard water (e.g., calcium, ium, and iron III) are how swappine exchanged for the more desirable "sofi" (meaning more soluble) ions like sodium. Explain ho effectiveness) of soaps and detergents soft"-water sodium ions for "hard"-water ions would influence the behavior (the cleaning fo

Explanation / Answer

Answer:

Soaps are Na or K salts of long chain fatty acids. The soap molecule is generally represented as RCOONa or RCOOK. In solution, it ionizes to form RCOO- and Na+. Each soap molecule has a polar head group (carboxylate ion, COO- group) and a long non-polar hydrocarbon tail (R group from long chain fatty acid). Hard water contains sulphates, chlorides or bicarbonate salts of Ca2+ or Mg2+ ions. So when soap is mixed with hard water, the following reactions take place:

Ca2+ + RCOONa --------------> RCOOCa + 2 Na+

soap scum

Mg2+ + RCOONa --------------> RCOOMg + 2 Na+

soap scum

The scum precipitates as it is insoluble in water. Hence no lather is formed in hard water which decreases the cleaning ability of the soap in hard water.

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