Ug/l is the symbol that is used for micrograms per litre, which means one millionth of a gram per litre. If you want to convert mg to ug, you simply divide by 1,000. More simply, what that means is that 1,000 micrograms, which is ug, equals one milligram, which is mg.
Measurements such as these are not normally used on a day to day basis for the man in the street, instead they are used for things like technical environmental reports, which involve water, soil and air contamination and so are unfamiliar to the majority of us who do not make a habit of reading these reports, and so can be confusing.
The concentration of chemicals in soil is usually measured in units of the mass of the chemical, therefore mg or ug per mass of the soil, so mg/kg or ug/kg. Sometimes, though, the concentrations are reported as ppm (parts per million) or ppb (parts per billion), instead. This converts as one ppm = one mg/kg in soil, and one ppb = one ug/kg.
The concentrations of chemicals in water are usually measured in units of the mass of the chemical, so again, mg or ug per volume of water, so mg/l or ug/l. As with soil, concentrations in water can also be measured as parts per million or parts per billion. Ppm and ppb can be converted from one to the other by translating the measurement as one part per million = a thousand parts per billion. If this is hard to imagine, then think about it like this: One ppb is about one drop of water in a swimming pool, and one ppm is about a cupful of water in a swimming pool.
The concentration of chemicals in the air is measured in the mass of the chemical per volume of air, so a cubic metre or cubic feet. The weight of the chemical, atmospheric temperature and air pressure all affect the calculation.
Measurements such as these are not normally used on a day to day basis for the man in the street, instead they are used for things like technical environmental reports, which involve water, soil and air contamination and so are unfamiliar to the majority of us who do not make a habit of reading these reports, and so can be confusing.
The concentration of chemicals in soil is usually measured in units of the mass of the chemical, therefore mg or ug per mass of the soil, so mg/kg or ug/kg. Sometimes, though, the concentrations are reported as ppm (parts per million) or ppb (parts per billion), instead. This converts as one ppm = one mg/kg in soil, and one ppb = one ug/kg.
The concentrations of chemicals in water are usually measured in units of the mass of the chemical, so again, mg or ug per volume of water, so mg/l or ug/l. As with soil, concentrations in water can also be measured as parts per million or parts per billion. Ppm and ppb can be converted from one to the other by translating the measurement as one part per million = a thousand parts per billion. If this is hard to imagine, then think about it like this: One ppb is about one drop of water in a swimming pool, and one ppm is about a cupful of water in a swimming pool.
The concentration of chemicals in the air is measured in the mass of the chemical per volume of air, so a cubic metre or cubic feet. The weight of the chemical, atmospheric temperature and air pressure all affect the calculation.
