PPM Calculator

If percentages, per mills and parts per million still confuse you, give this PPM calculator a shot. It is a simple tool that can be used for conversion from PPM to units such as percents or parts per billion (PPB). In this article, we will provide you with a short description of each of the proportion metrics and give you a detailed explanation of how to calculate PPM and percentages.

All of the proportion metrics are quite similar: they describe small values of dimensionless quantities, such as the volumetric proportion of $\text{NO}_2$ in the air. For example, PPM means "parts per million". If you find out that the concentration of $\text{NO}_2$ is equal to 1 ppm, it means that if you take a "sample" of air and divide it into a million parts, one of them will consist of $\text{NO}_2$.

The proportion metrics are as follows:

• Percentage: equal to 1 per 100;
• Permille: equal to 1 per 1,000;
• PPM: equal to 1 per 1,000,000;
• PPB: equal to 1 per 1,000,000,000; and
• PPT: equal to 1 per 1,000,000,000,000.

Let's take the following example: you have created a solution of salt ($\text{NaCl}$) in water. You used 0.005 grams of salt, and the final mass of the solution is equal to 1 kilogram. How many parts per million (PPM) of salt are in the solution?

1. Start with expressing the solution concentration as a decimal. There are 0.005 grams of salt in 1 kilogram (1000 grams). It means that the decimal is equal to

2. To find the percentage, multiply this value by a hundred:

3. To find the permille value, multiply the decimal by a thousand:

4. For the PPM, multiply the decimal by a million:

5. Finally, for the PPB, multiply the decimal by a billion:

One of the applications of such PPM calculations in everyday life, is to find and adjust the salinity of your swimming pool.