Thomas Winwood
Harmless
Posts: 43
Registered: 16-12-2004
Location: United Kingdom of Great Boredom
Member Is Offline
Mood: Anhydrous
|
|
Two unrelated questions: Water hardness and NaOH
I live in a hard-water area and as such we have a water filter. Would the water which comes out of this be suitable for performing reactions with, or
is there something else which I need to do? Should I construct a still?
Additionally, is it worth my while to buy large quantities of sodium chloride, dissolve it in water and electrolyse it to obtain the hydroxide in
bulk?
I\'ve been told having a sig is banned, despite the facility being available. Um...contradiction?
|
|
|
Darkblade48
Hazard to Others
Posts: 411
Registered: 27-3-2005
Location: Canada
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
I also have hard water in the area where I live, and have a water softener. These things work by exchanging the cations (Ca+2, Mg+2) in the water and
replace them with Na+ cations (obviously 2 Na+ for each Ca+2 or Mg+2).
The ions should not interfere with your reactions, unless you really need to have nothing in your water. Then you could always just
purchase some distilled water.
In my experience, I've never had the extra sodium cations in my tap water affect my reactions in any way.
|
|
|
Douchermann
Hazard to Others
Posts: 117
Registered: 11-10-2005
Location: Illinois, USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
Yeah, tap water with a water softener would be fine, there is such a small ammount of the Ions in there anyway. For those of you wondering, the salt
that goes in the water softener does not actually mix with the water, it washes little beads called zeolite IIRC, these beads transfer the sodium ions
into the water and replace the calcium,magnesium and any other ions in there. Every once in a while, the system will wash the beads to remove the
other ions and replace them with fresh sodium ions and the cycle repeats.
It\'s better to be pissed off than to be pissed on.
|
|
|
Twospoons
International Hazard
Posts: 1326
Registered: 26-7-2004
Location: Middle Earth
Member Is Offline
Mood: A trace of hope...
|
|
You could also just put a bucket outside when it rains - why pay for distilled water when it falls out of the sky for nothing?
Helicopter: "helico" -> spiral, "pter" -> with wings
|
|
|
Thomas Winwood
Harmless
Posts: 43
Registered: 16-12-2004
Location: United Kingdom of Great Boredom
Member Is Offline
Mood: Anhydrous
|
|
Rainwater is slightly acidic (pH 5-6, if memory serves me correctly) and contains sulphate and nitrate ions from careless people emitting sulphur and
nitrogen oxides into the air. Not good for chemistry.
I\'ve been told having a sig is banned, despite the facility being available. Um...contradiction?
|
|
|
Darkblade48
Hazard to Others
Posts: 411
Registered: 27-3-2005
Location: Canada
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by Thomas Winwood
Rainwater is slightly acidic (pH 5-6, if memory serves me correctly) and contains sulphate and nitrate ions from careless people emitting sulphur and
nitrogen oxides into the air. Not good for chemistry. |
Generally true, you especially don't want to collect rain water if you live in major cities where pollution is abundant.
In general, I'd find that the sulfate ions would be more problematic (i.e. form precipitates when you don't want them) rather than the
nitrates, as most (I think it's actually all) metal nitrates are soluble.
|
|
|
Twospoons
International Hazard
Posts: 1326
Registered: 26-7-2004
Location: Middle Earth
Member Is Offline
Mood: A trace of hope...
|
|
Then again the chlorides in tap water can be problematic too. For me its the Ca and Mg in our incredibly hard tap water that are trouble, especially
when making soap.
Helicopter: "helico" -> spiral, "pter" -> with wings
|
|
|
neutrino
International Hazard
Posts: 1583
Registered: 20-8-2004
Location: USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: oscillating
|
|
Do these ion exchange resins also work for anions?
I, too am cursed with incredibly hard tap water. A single drop of AgNO<sub>3</sub> will make liters of this stuff very cloudy.
|
|
|
evil_lurker
National Hazard
Posts: 767
Registered: 12-3-2005
Location: United States of Elbonia
Member Is Offline
Mood: On the wagon again.
|
|
Use a reverse osmosis unit with a deionization stage...
I have one and the total dissolved solids is like almost nothing when the water comes out... maybe like 2-3 ppm.
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xpblue/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
