+++D.E.I.

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING, DAYALBAGH, AGRA-282110

APPLIED CHEMISTRY LAB (CHM-182)
EXPERIMENT NO: 1
 
Objective: 
To determine the degree of temporary hardness of the given sample of water by HCl method.

Theory: Water which does not give lather easily with soap is called hard water. Hardness of water is
of two kinds: Temporary and Permanent. 
Temporary hardness is due to the presence of bicarbonates of Ca and Mg. It is also knows as
Carbonate hardness. This can be easily removed by boiling when the bicarbonates decompose giving
insoluble carbonates of Ca and Hydroxides of Mg which can be removed by filtration. 
Ca(HCO3)2 ∆→ CaCO3↓+CO2+H2O         Mg(HCO3)2∆→
MgCO3+CO2+H2O     
                                                                                 MgCO3+H2O ∆→
Mg(OH)2↓+CO2

Permanent hardness is due to the presence of chlorides, sulphates etc. of Ca and Mg. It is also
known as Non-carbonate hardness and cannot be removed easily. Besides Ca and Mg , other ions2+ 2+

causing hardness are Fe , Fe , Mn , Sr , Al present in either very small or in negligible amounts in

2+ 3+ 2+ 2+ 3+

water. This can be removed chemically by several methods. Ex: Lime soda process, Zeolite process,
Ion-Exchange Methods.
Hardness of water is generally expressed as CaCO equivalent because it is the most insoluble salt
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and its molecular weight is 100, which makes the calculations easier.     
The temporary hardness can be estimated in the laboratory by using dil. HCl.
Units:
Degree’s Clarke ( cl): It is the amount of CaCO in parts by wt. present in 70,000 parts by wt. of water.
o
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Degree’s French ( F): It is the amount of CaCO in parts by wt. present in 1, 00,000 parts by wt. of
0
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water.
Parts per million (ppm / mg/L) : It is the amount of CaCO in parts by wt. present in 1 million (10,
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00,000) parts by wt. of water.

Correlation of all units: (1 ppm = 1 mg/L = 0.07 cl = 0.1 F)
o o

Apparatus/ Reagent required – Burette, Beaker, Conical Flask, Measuring Flask (50 ml.)/ 
                                Std. N/50 HCL solution, Methyl Orange Indicator & water sample.

Procedure: 
Determination of Hardness: 50 ml of water whose hardness is to be determined is taken in a conical
flask and one drop of Methyl Orange indicator is added to it. The water is then titrated against the
standard N/50 HCl sol. prepared. The colour changes from Yellow to Orange, indicates the end point.
The vol. of N/50 HCl run down is noted. The amount of   salts causing hardness is calculated in terms
of CaCO which gives the temporary hardness of water.
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Observation:
Determination of Hardness of water:
S.No I. Reading of the Burette F. Reading of the Burette Vol. of N/50 HCl run down
.
1
2
3
Calculation:
Let the vol. of HCl rundown be  V ml.
Since 1,000 ml of N HCl react with 50 gm. of CaCO 3

Thus 1 ml of N HCl reacts with 50/1000 gm. of CaCO 3

Or 1 ml of N/50 HCl = 50100050   gm. of CaCO 3

      = 0.001 gm. of CaCO equivalents   

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Therefore V ml of N/50 HCl react with = 0.001 x V gm. of CaCO 3

50 ml of water corresponds to the V ml. of N/50 HCl rundown (titration)

Therefore, 50 ml of water contains    0.001 x V50gm. of CaCO 3

∴ 10 ml of water contains   0.001 x V10650gm. of CaCO = 20 V

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Temporary Hardness of water = 20 V ppm. CaCO eqv.   

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 Precautions:
1. All the glassware should be properly rinsed with distilled water before the start of the
experiment. 
2. Only one or two drops of Methyl Orange should be added as indicator.
3. The same amount of the indicator must be added for every titration.  
4. There should not be any air bubble in the burette.
5. Concordant readings should be taken.

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