# Need useful ways to express "parts per million" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 3, 2018, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-useful-ways-to-express-parts-per-million/809955 "2018-03-03T06:15:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2018, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-useful-ways-to-express-parts-per-million/809955/21 "2018-03-05T18:22:11Z")
This is probably not helpful, since I can’t recall the math or exact units used, but I had an econ instructor who would describe different sums of money and compare them using sand. If a grain of sand is a dollar, then a million dollars is a bucket of sand (or some such…I don’t recall, but probably not that much). If a million dollars is a bucket of sand, then a billion dollars is a dump truck of sand (again, not right, but you get the idea). Anybody want to take a shot at this analogy? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2018, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-useful-ways-to-express-parts-per-million/809955/22 "2018-03-05T19:44:08Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > This is probably not helpful, since I can’t recall the math or exact units used, but I had an econ instructor who would describe different sums of money and compare them using sand. If a grain of sand is a dollar, then a million dollars is a bucket of sand (or some such…I don’t recall, but probably not that much). If a million dollars is a bucket of sand, then a billion dollars is a dump truck of sand (again, not right, but you get the idea). > > Anybody want to take a shot at this analogy? The [XKCD money chart](https://xkcd.com/980/) is helpful here. Click once on the chart to get a zoomable/scrollable version. It helps lend a sense of scale to the dollar amounts you encounter during every day conversation - everything from the price of a cup of coffee up to the scale of national economies, and everything in between. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-useful-ways-to-express-parts-per-million/809955/23 "2018-03-06T09:53:32Z")
One million feet equals 189.39 miles. The biggest crowds I see routinely are at sold-out sports events… which isn’t close to a million people. That might be 1/18th of a million. Or it might be two seasons of home games for an NFL team (compared to the guy in front of you in the hot dog line.) ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-useful-ways-to-express-parts-per-million/809955/24 "2018-03-06T10:19:50Z")
Your first seven steps walking from New York to San Francisco. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-useful-ways-to-express-parts-per-million/809955/25 "2018-03-06T12:01:42Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Or 1 gram / metric ton, which I think is easier to visualize. > > That would be 1 ml per ton of water. Or 1 cubic centimetre per cubic metre - same thing, but I think both of those cubes are pretty easy to visualise. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-useful-ways-to-express-parts-per-million/809955/26 "2018-03-06T14:16:03Z")
Actually you wouldn’t be too far off to express it as Americans who have been in space vs. total number of Americans. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-useful-ways-to-express-parts-per-million/809955/27 "2018-03-06T14:22:41Z")
One more: If you took the seven living people who have walked on the moon and dispersed them evenly in the state of Arizona, that would be approximately 1 in a million. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2018, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-useful-ways-to-express-parts-per-million/809955/28 "2018-03-06T14:47:02Z")
1 inch in 16 miles is a little less than 1 PPM A grain of rice in a 5 gallon bucket of water is approx 1 PPM ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-useful-ways-to-express-parts-per-million/809955/29 "2018-03-07T01:46:09Z")
From Stephen Leacock, “The Force of Statistics,” 1910: “Do you know that every ton of coal burnt in an engine will drag a train of cars as long as…I forget the exact length, but say a train of cars of such and such a length, and weighing, say so much…from…from…hum! for the moment the exact distance escapes me…drag it from…” “From here to the moon,” suggested the other. “Ah, very likely; yes, from here to the moon. Wonderful, isn’t it?” ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-useful-ways-to-express-parts-per-million/809955/30 "2018-03-07T23:22:09Z")
One Lego block vs [the Hulk](https://inhabitat.com/inhabitots/giant-lego-iron-man-hulk-buster-is-made-from-over-a-million-bricks-weighs-over-a-ton/) The exact number of Legos used isn’t given, but it would be on the right scale. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-useful-ways-to-express-parts-per-million/809955.md?page=1)