Why does soap not work with hard water? Is hard water a good or bad thing? What are water softeners? Why are they banned in some places? When you buy bottled water in plastic bottles, how come they have an expiration date? How can water expire?

... we explain like I'm five

Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: sn0rlaxftw, kittenrice, wyliecody, lustypad, th3hedonismbot, toxiclay, paravis and tokyojokeyo

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