Carbonate hardness relative to total hardness

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Multiple Choice

Carbonate hardness relative to total hardness

Explanation:
The essential idea is that total hardness is made up of two parts: carbonate (temporary) hardness and noncarbonate (permanent) hardness. Carbonate hardness comes from dissolved carbonate and bicarbonate ions that form calcium carbonate when water is boiled, so it can be removed by heating. Noncarbonate hardness comes from calcium and magnesium bound to other ions that do not precipitate as CaCO3 when boiled. Since total hardness is the sum of these two components, the carbonate portion is typically smaller than the total—there's usually some permanent hardness as well. Only if there were no noncarbonate hardness would the two be equal.

The essential idea is that total hardness is made up of two parts: carbonate (temporary) hardness and noncarbonate (permanent) hardness. Carbonate hardness comes from dissolved carbonate and bicarbonate ions that form calcium carbonate when water is boiled, so it can be removed by heating. Noncarbonate hardness comes from calcium and magnesium bound to other ions that do not precipitate as CaCO3 when boiled. Since total hardness is the sum of these two components, the carbonate portion is typically smaller than the total—there's usually some permanent hardness as well. Only if there were no noncarbonate hardness would the two be equal.

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