What Is The Difference Between Soft And Hard Water?
What Is The Difference Between Soft And Hard Water?
Have you ever wondered what makes water hard or soft? Or why some water leaves cloudy residue on your dishes or shower curtains? Well this article will explain the difference between the two different kinds of water and what are the pros and cons between the two.
First off the main difference between hard and soft water is that hard water contains more minerals and that soft water is treated to have less minerals. It’s quite simple, but to dive a little deeper into the subject and get our hands wet it is important to know what minerals are actually contained in each type of water.
Hard water contains more minerals such as:
- Calcium bicarbonate
- Magnesium bicarbonate
- Calcium Sulphate
- Magnesium Sulphate
- Calcium Chloride
- Magnesium Chloride
Soft water contains fewer minerals such as:
- Sodium
These are the main differences between the structures of both types of water, but how does the difference affect you. Because of the high mineral quantity in hard water it leaves residue on things that it touches such as showers curtains, shower heads, and glass dishware. Another product that is caused by the hard water is the reaction it has with dish soap. Due to the minerals counteracting the soap particles when washing dishes with hard water, foaming will not occur and a “film” will be seen. This is opposed to soft water that causes dish soap to bubble and create suds as there are no minerals to counteract the mixing of the soap and water. Not only will it help clean dishes but it won’t leave noticeable residue on dishes or in the shower.
So why would we even use hard water? Well we don’t use soft water for everything for two reasons. The first reason is that hard water is more readily available as it is the way water is naturally found on land. To create soft water there is only two ways of doing so:
- Collect rain water that is naturally soft
- Or treat hard water by removing excess minerals
This is why we still use hard water. The second reason why hard water is still so prevalent is because to most people, it tastes better. Water high in minerals tastes less “salty” to people because of soft water’s concentrated sodium levels. Hard water is also seen to be healthier for people on low sodium diets as treated water effectively concentrates the salt level.
In conclusion we learned the difference between the two types of water, hard and soft, and learned about the advantages and disadvantages of both.