WATER

TEACHER: [Link]
CHEMISTRY- FORM 5 PROJECT
DONE BY: Shannen C. Narace
Table of Contents
What is water?..........................................................................................2
The chemical formula and molar mass of water....................................................................2
Three Physical Properties of water………………………………………………………………………………………………….2-3
Three Chemical Properties of water……………………………………………………………………………………………….3-5

What is the Water Cycle?....................................................................................................6

Flow chart of the Water Cycle…………………………………………………………………………………………………………6
Aquatic organisms and Winter…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….6-7

Uses ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….8
Purification at Home………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….8-9
Explanation of Large-scale treatment of water………………………………………………………….10-16

What is Hard Water………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….17

Ions contained in Hard Water……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..17
Two ways Hard water can be softened……………………………………………………………………………………17-18

BIBLOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….19

WHAT IS WATER?
Water, a substance composed of the chemical elements hydrogen and oxygen and existing in gaseous, liquid,
and solid states. It is one of the most plentiful and essential of compounds. A tasteless and odourless liquid at
room temperature, it has the important ability to dissolve many other substances. Indeed, the versatility of
water as a solvent is essential to living organisms. Life is believed to have originated in the aqueous solutions
of the world’s oceans, and living organisms depend on aqueous solutions, such as blood and digestive juices,
for biological processes. Water also exists on other planets and moons both within and beyond the solar
system. In small quantities water appears colourless, but water actually has an intrinsic blue colour caused by
slight absorption of light at red wavelengths. Occurring as a liquid on Earth’s surface under normal conditions,
makes it invaluable for human uses and as plant and animal habitat. Since water is readily changed to a
vapour (gas), it can travel through the atmosphere from the oceans inland, where it condenses and
nourishes life.

THE CHEMICAL FORMULA AND MOLAR MASS OF WATER.

The chemical formula of water is H2O and its molar mass is 18.02g/mol.

THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF WATER.

Water has several important physical properties. Although these properties are familiar because of
the omnipresence of water, most of the physical properties of water are quite atypical. Given the
low molar mass of its constituent molecules, water has unusually large values of viscosity, surface
tension, heat of vaporization, and entropy of vaporization, all of which can be ascribed to the
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extensive hydrogen bonding interactions present in liquid water. The open structure of ice that
allows for maximum hydrogen bonding explains why solid water is less dense than liquid water—a
highly unusual situation among common substances.
Selected physical properties of water
molar mass 18.0151 grams per mole
melting point 0.00 °C
boiling point 100.00 °C
maximum density (at 3.98 °C) 1.0000 grams per cubic centimetre
density (25 °C) 0.99701 grams per cubic centimetre
vapour pressure (25 °C) 23.75 torr
heat of fusion (0 °C) 6.010 kilojoules per mole
heat of vaporization (100 °C) 40.65 kilojoules per mole
heat of formation (25 °C) −285.85 kilojoules per mole
entropy of vaporization (25 °C) 118.8 joules per °C mole
viscosity 0.8903 centipoise
surface tension (25 °C) 71.97 dynes per centimeter

THE CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF WATER.

Water reacts with a lot of substances to form different compounds. Some significant reactions are as follows:
 Amphoteric nature:
Water can act as both acid and base, which means that it is amphoteric in nature.
Example:
Acidic Behaviour:               H2O(l)+NH3(aq) ⇌ H3O+(aq)+NH+4(aq)
Basic Behavior:                 H2O(l)+H2S(aq)   ⇌    H3O+(aq)+HS−(aq)
 Redox reactions:
Electropositive elements reduce water to hydrogen molecule. Thus, water is a great source of hydrogen. Let us
see an example in this case:
2H2O(l)+2Na(s)→2NaOH(aq)+H2(g)
During the process of photosynthesis, water is oxidized to O 2. As water can be oxidized and reduced, it is
particularly useful in redox reactions.
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  Hydrolysis reaction
Water has a strong hydrating tendency due to its dielectric constant. It dissolves many ionic compounds. Some
covalent and ionic compounds can be hydrolyzed in water.
 
Properties
Chemical H2O
formula
Molar mass 18.01528(33) g/mol
Odour None
Density Solid:
0.9167 g/ml at 0 °C
Liquid:
0.961893 g/mL at 95 °C
0.9970474 g/mL at 25 °C
0.9998396 g/mL at 0 °C
Boiling point 99.98 °C (211.96 °F; 373.13 K)
Melting  point 0.00 °C (32.00 °F; 273.15 K)
Solubility Poorly soluble in aliphatic and aromatic
hydrocarbons, ethers and Ethers.
Improved solubility in amines, ketones, alcohols,
carboxylates.
Miscible with acetonitrile, dimethyl sulfoxide,
dimethoxyethane, dimethylformamide,
acetaldehyde, sulfolane, tetrahydrofuran, 1,4-
dioxane, glycerol, acetone, isopropanol, propanol,
ethanol, methanol.
Partially miscible with Bromine, Ethyl Acetate,
Diethyl ether, Dichloromethane.
Acidity  Neutral 7
 
Vapour pressure 3.1690 kilopascals or 0.031276 atm
Basicit
Refractive index(nD)  1.3330 (20°C)
Thermal conductivity 0.6065 W/m·K
Viscosity 0.890 Cp

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WHAT IS THE WATER CYCLE?
The water cycle is often taught as a simple circular cycle of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.
Although this can be a useful model, the reality is much more complicated. The paths and influences of water
through Earth’s ecosystems are extremely complex and not completely understood. The water cycle on Earth
Water is essential to life on Earth. In its three phases (solid, liquid, and gas), water ties together the major
parts of the Earth’s climate system — air, clouds, the ocean, lakes, vegetation, snowpack, and glaciers.
The water cycle shows the continuous movement of water within the Earth and atmosphere. It is a complex
system that includes many different processes. Liquid water evaporates into water vapor, condenses to form
clouds, and precipitates back to earth in the form of rain and snow. Water in different phases moves through
the atmosphere (transportation). Liquid water flows across land (runoff), into the ground (infiltration and
percolation), and through the ground (groundwater). Groundwater moves into plants (plant uptake) and
evaporates from plants into the atmosphere (transpiration). Solid ice and snow can turn directly into gas
(sublimation). The opposite can also take place when water vapor becomes solid (deposition). 

AQUATIC ORGANISMS AND WINTER.

Fish and other cold-blooded animals adjust their body temperature and can modify their
metabolism to the environment they live in. They are fast and nimble in the summer because the
water temperature is much warmer, but in the winter they slow down as their body temperatures
drop.
Some fish — such as the trout, salmon, pike and yellow perch — are especially designed to deal
with this.
Even at low temperatures, their bodies allow them to swim easily. They often take refuge in the
deepest part of the stream or pond where the water is warmest. Other fish, such as bass, sunfish
and catfish, must hibernate (pass the winter in a resting state) due to their inability to cope with
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the cold water. They move to the edges of the stream or pond and bury themselves in mud or
leaves. There they wait until they can successfully swim again.

USES.
Water can be used for direct and indirect purposes. Direct purposes include bathing, drinking, and
cooking, while examples of indirect purposes are the use of water in processing wood to make
paper and in producing steel for automobiles. The bulk of the world’s water use is for agriculture,
industry, and electricity. The most common water uses include:
 Drinking and Household Needs
 Recreation
 Industry and Commerce
 Agriculture
 Thermoelectricity/Energy
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Agricultural water is water that is used to grow fresh produce and sustain livestock. The use of
agricultural water makes it possible to grow fruits and vegetables and raise livestock, which is a
main part of our diet. Agricultural water is used for irrigation, pesticide and fertilizer applications,
crop cooling (for example, light irrigation), and frost control. 
Manufacturing and other industries use water during the production process for either creating their
products or cooling equipment used in creating their products. Industrial water is also used for
fabricating, processing, washing, diluting, cooling, or transporting a product. Water is also used by
smelting facilities, petroleum refineries, and industries producing chemical products, food, and
paper products. Large amounts of water are used mostly to produce food, paper, and chemicals.
Water plays an important role in the health care field. From washing surgical tools and equipment
to creating a soothing environment for patients to have hydrotherapy, water is essential to the
effectiveness of the health industry.

PURIFICATION AT HOME.
The simplest and most common method to purify drinking water is to boil it. Heat the water over a
stovetop burner or open flame until it reaches a full, rolling boil, and continue to boil for a
minimum of five to ten minutes to be safe (the longer the water is boiled, the purer it will
become).
Since boiling contaminated water will remove all oxygen from the liquid, the resulting purified water
may end up tasting flat. This is a very minor negative that can easily be fixed by simply shaking the
purified water up a bit.
Commercial filters are phenomenally successful in removing almost all tannins and soil from
contaminated drinking water.
There are several different types of commercial filters available on the market, such as portable
ones to keep on hand in case of an emergency, filtration systems that hook right up to the home
faucet, and even filters that come pre-installed on water pitchers and individual bottles.

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 EXPLANATION OF TREATMENT OF WATER.
Water treatment is the process of removing all those substances, whether biological, chemical, or
physical, that are potentially harmful in water supply for human and domestic use. This treatment
helps to produce water that is safe, palatable, clear, colourless, and odourless. Water also needs
to be non-corrosive, meaning it will not cause damage to pipework.
Screening
To protect the main units of a treatment plant and to aid in their efficient operation, it is necessary
to use screens to remove any large floating and suspended solids that are present in the inflow.
These materials include leaves, twigs, paper, rags, and other debris that could obstruct flow
through the plant or damage equipment. There are coarse and fine screens.
Coarse screens are steel bars spaced 5–15 cm apart, which are employed to exclude large
materials (such as logs and fish) from entering the treatment plant, as these can damage the
mechanical equipment. The screens are made of corrosion-resistant bars and positioned at an
angle of 60º to facilitate removal of the collected material by mechanical raking.

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Fine screens, which come after the coarse screens, keep out material that can block pipework at
the plant. They consist of steel bars which are spaced 5–20 mm apart. A variation of the fine
screen is the microstrainer which consists of a rotating drum of stainless steel mesh with a very
small mesh size (ranging from 15 µm to 64 µm, i.e. 15–64 millionths of a metre). Suspended
matter as small as algae and plankton (microscopic organisms that float with the current in water)
can be trapped. The trapped solids are dislodged from the fabric by high-pressure water jets using
clean water and carried away for disposal.

Aeration
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After screening, the water is aerated (supplied with air) by passing it over a series of steps so that
it takes in oxygen from the air. This helps expel soluble gases such as carbon dioxide and
hydrogen sulphide (both of which are acidic, so this process makes the water less corrosive) and
expels any gaseous organic compounds that might give an undesirable taste to the water. Aeration
also removes iron or manganese by oxidation of these substances to their insoluble form. Iron and
manganese can cause peculiar tastes and can stain clothing. Once in their insoluble forms, these
substances can be removed by filtration.
In certain instances, excess algae in the raw water can result in algal growth blocking the sand
filter further down the treatment process. In such situations, chlorination is used in place of, or in
addition to, aeration to kill the algae, and this is termed pre-chlorination. This comes before the
main stages in the treatment of the water. (There is a chlorination step at the end of the
treatment process, which is normal in most water treatment plants). The pre-chlorination also
oxidises taste- and odour-causing compounds.

Coagulation and flocculation

After aeration, coagulation takes place, to remove the fine particles (less than 1 µm in size) that
are suspended in the water. In this process, a chemical called a coagulant (with a positive
electrical charge) is added to the water, and this neutralises the negative electrical charge of the
fine particles. The addition of the coagulant takes place in a rapid mix tank where the coagulant is
rapidly dispersed by a high-speed impeller.
Since their charges are now neutralised, the fine particles come together, forming soft, fluffy
particles called ‘flocs’. (Before the coagulation stage, the particles all have a similar electrical
charge and repel each other, rather like the north or south poles of two magnets.) Two coagulants
commonly used in the treatment of water are aluminium sulphate and ferric chloride.

The next step is flocculation. Here the water is gently stirred by paddles in a flocculation basin and
the flocs encounter each other to form larger flocs. The flocculation basin often has a number of
compartments with decreasing mixing speeds as the water advances through the basin. This
compartmentalised chamber allows increasingly large flocs to form without being broken apart by
the mixing blades. Chemicals called flocculants can be added to enhance the process. Organic
polymers called polyelectrolytes can be used as flocculants.

Sedimentation
Once large flocs are formed, they need to be settled out, and this takes place in a process
called sedimentation (when the particles fall to the floor of a settling tank). The water (after
coagulation and flocculation) is kept in the tank for several hours for sedimentation to take place.
The material accumulated at the bottom of the tank is called sludge; this is removed for disposal.

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Flocculation chambers (a) and a sedimentation tank (b) at Gondar water treatment works.

Filtration
Filtration is the process where solids are separated from a liquid. In water treatment, the solids
that are not separated out in the sedimentation tank are removed by passing the water through
beds of sand and gravel. Rapid gravity filters, with a flow rate of 4–8 cubic metres per square
metre of filter surface per hour (this is written as 4–8 m –3 m–2 h–1) are often used.
When the filters are full of trapped solids, they are backwashed. In this process, clean water and
air are pumped backwards up the filter to dislodge the trapped impurities, and the water carrying
the dirt (referred to as backwash) is pumped into the sewerage system, if there is one.
Alternatively, it may be discharged back into the source river after a settlement stage in a
sedimentation tank to remove solids.

Cross-sectional diagram of a rapid gravity sand filter.

Chlorination
After sedimentation, the water is disinfected to eliminate any remaining pathogenic micro-
organisms. The most used disinfectant (the chemical used for disinfection) is chlorine, in the form
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of a liquid (such as sodium hypochlorite, NaOCl) or a gas. It is relatively cheap, and simple to use.
When chlorine is added to water it reacts with any pollutants present, including micro-organisms,
over a given period, referred to as the contact time. The amount of chlorine left after this is
called residual chlorine. This stays in the water all the way through the distribution system,
protecting it from any micro-organisms that might enter it, until the water reaches the consumers.
World Health Organization Guidelines (WHO, 2003) suggest a maximum residual chlorine of
5 mg l–1 of water. The minimum residual chlorine level should be 0.5 mg l–1 of water after 30
minutes’ contact time (WHO, n.d.). There are other ways of disinfecting water (e.g. by using the
gas ozone, or ultraviolet radiation) but these do not protect it from microbial contamination after it
has left the water treatment plant. Following disinfection, the treated water is pumped into the
distribution system.
Supplementary treatment
Supplementary treatment may sometimes be needed for the benefit of the population. One such
instance is the fluoridation of water, where fluoride is added to water. It has been stated by the
World Health Organization that ‘fluoridation of water supplies, where possible, is the most effective
public health measure for the prevention of dental decay’ (WHO, 2001). The optimum level of
fluoride is said to be around 1 mg per litre of water (1 mg l–1).
in the Rift Valley of Ethiopia, the water resources contain a higher concentration of fluoride than is
desirable. Tekle-Haimanot et al. (1995) found that the level of fluoride in drinking water from
deep wells there ranged from 1.5 to 36 mg l–1. The safe level for fluoride is 1.5 mg l–1.
In such high-fluoride areas, removal, or reduction of fluoride (termed defluoridation) is essential.
The simplest way of doing this is to blend the high-fluoride water with water that has no (or little)
fluoride so that the final mixture is safe. If this is not possible, technical solutions may be applied.
Two of these, the Nakuru Method, and the Nalgonda Technique, used in Ethiopia, are described
below.
The Nakuru Method involves a filter with bone char (charcoal produced from animal bone) and
calcium phosphate to adsorb the fluoride (Kung, 2011). There have been reservations on the use
of bone char, and alternatives for defluoridation, such as activated alumina, are being tested in
Addis Ababa (Alemseged, 2015).

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The Nakuru method for defluoridation using plastic buckets and piping.
The Nalgonda technique for defluoridation (Suneetha et al., 2008) uses aluminium sulphate and
calcium oxide to remove fluoride. The two chemicals are added to and rapidly mixed with the
fluoride-contaminated water and then the water is stirred gently. Flocs of aluminium hydroxide form
and these remove the fluoride by adsorption and ion exchange. The flocs are then removed by
sedimentation.
WHAT IS HARD WATER?
Water hardness is the amount of dissolved calcium and magnesium in the water. Hard water is high in
dissolved minerals, largely calcium and magnesium. 

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IONS CONTAINED IN HARD WATER.
Hard water is water containing2+high amounts of mineral ions. The most common ions found in hard water are
the metal cations calcium (Ca ) and magnesium (Mg2+), though iron, aluminium, and manganese may also be
found in certain areas. These metals are water soluble, meaning they will dissolve in water.

TWO WAYS HARD WATER CAN BE SOFTENED.

Water can be softened by adding sodium carbonate (washing soda) or by passing the water through an ion-
exchange column.

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BIBLOGRAPHY:
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2. [Link]
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