Concentration & Solutions – Part 2

How do we talk about them?

 Parts per million (ppm)
• (%) Per cent: out of a hundred
• Per million: out of a million
• 1 million parts
• 8 parts (pieces of pie) (pieces of pie)
• 1 part contaminated • 1 part contaminated
= 1 part per 8 = 1 ppm
• 1 part contaminated +
999,999 normal parts
 What does 1 ppm look like?
• 1 drop of water in 50 L
• ~30 seconds in a year
• 1 penny in $10 000
 Real-life examples
• 1 ppm of chlorine in a pool to kill bacteria
• 4 ppm of oxygen needed for fish in ocean
water
• 0.01 ppm of arsenic allowed in tap water
• 0.05 ppm insecticide (chlorpyrifos) allowed in
bananas

What are the “parts”?

 ppm in mass
1g 1 mg 1 mg solute
1 ppm = 1 000 000 g
= 1 000 g
= 1 kg solution

• 1 ppm of chlorine in a pool

– 1 mg in 1 kg of pool water
• 60 ppm of contaminant in
soil
– 60 mg in 1 kg of soil
• We can smell H2S at 0.1
ppm concentration in air
– 0.1 mg in 1 kg of air
1. Solution A has a concentration of 0.65 mg/kg
and Solution B has a concentration of 0.225
g/kg. What are their concentrations in ppm?
2. An 800 g sample of soil from a yard contains
5.3 g of pollutant. What is the concentration of
pollutant in ppm?
3. Another 650 g sample of soil has a pollutant
concentration of 7 ppm. How much pollutant is
in the soil sample?
4. Whole wheat bread has 850 ppm of
magnesium. How much magnesium is in 1 slice
of bread, if one slice has a mass of 30 g?
 ppm for aqueous solutions
• # parts of solute in 1 million parts of solution
** Solution often substituted for water
1g 1g 1 mg
1 ppm =
1 000 000 mL
= 1 000 L
= 1L
1 mg solute
= 1 L solution (water)
 ppm for aqueous solutions
• # parts of solute in 1 million parts of solution
1 mg solute
1 ppm = 1 L solution (water)

• 4 ppm of oxygen needed for

fish in ocean water
– 4 g oxygen in 1 L of ocean water
• 0.01 ppm of arsenic allowed in
tap water
– 0.01 g of arsenic in 1 L of tap
water
1. The Gatorade “Thirst Quencher” has
approximately 51 mg/L of potassium. What is
the concentration of potassium in ppm?
2. A solution has a concentration of 1.25 g/L.
What is its concentration in ppm?
3. A solution has a concentration of 0.5 mg/mL.
What is its concentration in ppm?
4. Water in a lake is contaminated. A 50 mL
sample has 4.8 mg of contaminant. What is the
concentration in ppm?
 Steps to follow to answer ppm
questions
1. Write out what values the question
gives you mg
2. Write out the ppm equation ppm =
L
3. Ensure the values are in the correct
units and convert if necessary
4. Put the values into the equation mg
ppm =
5. Solve the equation kg
6. Answer the question in a sentence