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Why do soaps not work in hard water ?...

Why do soaps not work in hard water ?

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Hard water contains calcium and magnesium salts . Therefore , in hard water soap gets precipitated as insoluble calcium and magnesium soap which being insoluble stick to the cloth as gummy mass and blocks the ability of soap to remove oil or grease from the cloth .
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Soaps do not work in hard water containing calcium and magnesium ions because

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