[lsokol2]

I got done doing a research project in my Chem 2 class on the amount of phosphate in pond water and our teacher is not allowed to help us with it. I am stuck on how to calculate the ppm for phosphate because that is usually the most accepted unit.
How can I convert the concentration of phosphate in pond water to ppm of phosphate?
Is there a specific equation, and can anyone please post the step by step procedure for me?
Thanks for all of your help ahead of time.:]

[Borek]

Search forums for ppm.

[AWK]

You should know a phosphate concentration in other unit or measure it.
Then use a definition of ppm concentration (ie 1mg of phosphate per 1 kg (1 liter) of solution

[Arkcon]

Like AWK: says, 1 ppm is one part per million, and 1 milligram is 1/1,000,000 of a kilogram.  Easy-peasy.

'Course, that get's messy sometimes, million meaning different things in various English speaking countries, and sometimes people use liters of water as equivalent to 1 kg of water, which isn't technically correct.  You probably won't have problems if you stick to AWK:'s definition, or at least, define ppm in your report that way, so everyone is on the same page.

[lsokol2]

I understand ppm and what the definition of it means, however my confusion lies in how I can convert a water sample with a phosphate molarity of 0.0000629M to ppm.
Would I just multiply it by 10^6, or is it more complicated?

[Arkcon]

What is the definition of Molarity?  And to save time, what is the definition of the terms used to define molarity?

[lsokol2]

-Molarity is the number of moles of solute dissolved in one liter of solution.
-Moles measure th amount of a substance and contain Avogadro's number of the substance.
-Liters refers to the amount of the solvent that the solute/solution.

I'm not sure if this is correct but if I had a solution with a phosphate concentration of 0.0000629M, would this procedure be correct in obtaining ppm.
0.0000629mol/L x 94.97g/mol x 1000mg/g=5.97ppm

Molarity x Molecular weight x ppm

[Borek]

million meaning different things in various English speaking countries

I thought it is a billion that is ambiguous?

[Borek]

0.0000629mol/L x 94.97g/mol x 1000mg/g=5.97ppm

Looks OK.

[Arkcon]

million meaning different things in various English speaking countries

I thought it is a billion that is ambiguous?

Right, ppb is a problem, I've read somewhere ppt is a problem too, the abbreviation means something else in a similar field, or something.

[Borek]

It is a problem of trillion/thousand ambiguity.