Final answer:
Soft water refers to water with removed minerals that hinder soap lathering, achieved through different softening processes such as ion-exchange or reverse osmosis, making it ideal for cleaning and preventing scale in pipes.
Step-by-step explanation:
Rainwater or chemically softened water that contains only a small amount of minerals, allowing soap and shampoo to lather freely, is referred to as soft water.
Soft water is the result of removing calcium, magnesium, and certain other metal cations from hard water through processes such as lime softening, ion-exchange resins, nanofiltration, or reverse osmosis.
The absence of these minerals, which normally interfere with the lathering of soap, facilitates the cleaning process and prevents scale build-up in pipes and fittings.
Commercial water softeners often use ion-exchange resins where sodium ions are dissolved to treat hard water, leading to fewer dissolved minerals and a slight increase in the water's saltiness.
Soft water that allows soap and shampoo to lather freely is called soft water. Soft water is rainwater or chemically softened water that contains only a small amount of minerals, such as calcium and magnesium.
Unlike hard water, soft water does not cause scale build-up in plumbing and extends the lifetime of plumbing. Commercial water softeners use ion-exchange resins to remove calcium and magnesium from hard water, resulting in soft water that lathers easily.