Parts-per Billion to Parts-per Million conversion

What is parts per billion?

The parts-per is a prefix combined with billion describes a quantity of some thing present relative to another. This unit is not part of SI unit system and it is commonly denoted as ppb or $ppb$ which is 1 quantity of something present in 10^9 of others.

Wikipedia page for explanation on Parts-per notation

What is parts-per million?

Parts-per-million (ppm) is a unit of measurement that represents the number of particles or molecules in a given volume of liquid, gas, or solid. It's often used to express very small concentrations.

To understand ppm, let's break it down:

• "Parts" refers to the total number of particles or molecules.
• "Per million" means there are one million units (or parts) of something in a larger whole.

In other words, if a substance is present at 1 ppm, that means there is one part of that substance per million parts of the mixture or solution.

To illustrate this:

• If you have 10 gallons of water and 0.001 gallon of salt, the concentration would be approximately 100 ppm (0.001/10 = 0.0001 or 0.01%).
• If a water sample contains 1 milligram of mercury per liter, that's equivalent to 1 ppm.

PPM is often used in various fields:

1. Chemistry: to express concentrations of chemicals.
2. Water quality management: to measure the presence of pollutants like pesticides, heavy metals, or bacteria.
3. Food safety: to determine the concentration of contaminants or additives.
4. Air quality monitoring: to detect levels of pollutants like particulate matter (PM), ozone (O3), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

Keep in mind that ppm is a relative measurement and can be affected by various factors, such as temperature, pressure, and specific gravity. It's always essential to consider these factors when interpreting ppm values.

Now you know what parts-per-million means!