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AP Environmental Science Chapter 16 [Additional Reading 2]

Module by: University of California College Prep. E-mail the author

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Summary: chp 16 plus2

Chapter 16: Air, Water and Soil

Parts per million (ppm) and Micrograms per milliliter (ug/mL)

Very small quantities of some chemicals can have a large impact on organisms. Because of this, substances that are present in trace amounts, such as nutrients and contaminants, are usually measured and recorded using very small units. Two of the most common measures are parts per million and micrograms per milliliter.

Micrograms per milliliter (ug/mL)

Micrograms per milliliter, or ug/mL, measures mass per volume. It is generally used to measure the concentration of a substance dissolved or suspended in a liquid. One microgram is one millionth of a gram (1 ug = 0.0000001 g), and one milliliter is one thousandth of a liter.

Parts per million (ppm)

Parts per million, abbreviated as ppm, is a unitless measure of proportion. It is obtained by dividing the amount of a substance in a sample by the amount of the entire sample, and then multiplying by 106. In other words, if some quantity of gas, liquid, or solid is divided into one million parts, the number of those parts made up of any specific substance is the ppm of that substance. For example, if 1 mL of gasoline is mixed with 999,999 mL of water, the water contains 1 ppm of gas.

Concentration Equivalents

Since a microgram is one millionth of a gram, and a milliliter of water equals one gram of water, ug/mL is equivalent to parts per million. Ppm is also equivalent to many other proportional measurements, including milligrams per liter (mg/L), milligrams per kilogram (mg/Kg), and pounds per acre (lb/acre). But parts per million is often more useful in describing and comparing trace amounts of chemicals because it eliminates specific units and is applicable to liquids, solids, and gases.

Examples

Both ppm and ug/mL can be used to describe the amount of particulate dust in a sample of air:

If the total particulate dust in a one liter volume of air is 5 mg, there is 5 ppm of particulate dust in the air that was sampled, since mg/L (milligrams per liter) = ppm.

How much dye should you add to one gallon of water to achieve a final 500 ppm mixture?

Concentration Measurements and Environmental Regulations

Because many toxins begin to have negative environmental effects at very low levels, their abundance in ppm or ug/mL are used to set the limits of pollutants that are legally permitted in stack smoke, discharge water, soil contamination, and so on. For example, coal fired power plants may be limited to a discharge of 0.5 ppm of SO2 in the stack smoke. If a plant’s emissions exceed that amount, it may be in violation of local or federal air quality standards and could be subject to a fine.

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