Soft Water V/s Hard Water (Super Science Experiments)

You will need:

q 2 cups packaged drinking water
q 1 teaspoonful of Epsom salt
q 2 clean empty plastic bottles
q Dish-washing liquid soap

Understand the science behind hard water and soft water and how they affect washing.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Take 2 empty plastic bottles, and pour 1 cup of packaged drinking water in each bottle.
2. In one of the bottles, add 1 teaspoonful of
   Epsom salt. Do not add any salt to the
   other bottle.
3. Add 5-6 drops of dish-washing liquid
   soap in both the bottles and close
   the bottles shut with their caps.
4. Shake the 2 bottles well.
   What do you notice?

RESULT

Normal packaged drinking water is soft water. By adding Epsom salt (also known as magnesium sulphate) to one of the bottles, we have converted the water in that bottle to hard water. When you shake both the bottles, you will see that the water containing Epsom salt will have far lesser froth than the bottle which has no Epsom salt. This is because hard water contains magnesium sulphate and calcium which interfere in the cleaning action of soaps. Hence, while using hard water, softeness of some kind is always used so as to increase the effectiveness of the soap/detergent.