Gas Concentration Converter (ppm ↔ mg/m³)
Two conventions report trace gas concentrations in air: volume mixing ratio "ppm" (parts per million by volume) and mass concentration "mg/m³" (milligrams per cubic metre). They are not a fixed ratio — the conversion depends on the gas's molecular weight M (g/mol) and the current molar volume V_m (L/mol), which is itself a function of temperature and pressure via V_m = R·T / p. Enter the concentration, choose a gas (or enter a custom molecular weight) and set T and p (default 25 °C, 101.325 kPa — the NIOSH / OSHA standard); the tool converts in both directions and shows the matching 1 ppm = X mg/m³ factor.
Please enter valid values: concentration ≥ 0, molecular weight > 0, absolute temperature > 0, pressure > 0.
Result (mg/m³)
1799
Molar volume V_m at current T, p
24.466 L/mol
Conversion factor M ÷ V_m
1 ppm ↔ 1.799 mg/m³
i.e. how many mg/m³ corresponds to 1 ppm (proportional to pressure, inversely proportional to absolute temperature).
Formula
c[mg/m³] = c[ppm] × M / V_m V_m = R·T / p (R = 8.3145 L·kPa/(mol·K), T in K)
The conversion uses the ideal-gas law pV = nRT and defaults to 25 °C, 101.325 kPa (the NIOSH Pocket Guide convention). The approximation is excellent for trace gases mixed in air; for concentrated gases (≥ 1 % v/v) or extreme T / p you may see a few-percent deviation from real-gas behaviour.
Formula
c[mg/m³] = c[ppm] × M / V_m c[ppm] = c[mg/m³] × V_m / M V_m = R·T / p R = 8.3145 L·kPa/(mol·K), T in K, p in kPa
- · At 25 °C and 1 atm (101.325 kPa) V_m ≈ 24.466 L/mol — the convention used by NIOSH (Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards), OSHA, ACGIH and EPA tables.
- · At 0 °C, 1 atm V_m = 22.414 L/mol (the "STP" of school chemistry). Standard state is unfortunately not unique: post-1997 IUPAC uses 0 °C, 100 kPa (V_m ≈ 22.711 L/mol); pre-1997 IUPAC and NIST use 0 °C, 101.325 kPa. Always check which T, p a published table assumed.
- · Quick reference (25 °C, 1 atm): 1 ppm CO₂ ≈ 1.80 mg/m³; 1 ppm CO ≈ 1.15 mg/m³; 1 ppm NO₂ ≈ 1.88 mg/m³; 1 ppm SO₂ ≈ 2.62 mg/m³; 1 ppm O₃ ≈ 1.96 mg/m³; 1 ppm formaldehyde ≈ 1.23 mg/m³.
- · Indoor-air targets: ASHRAE 62.1 and the HK IAQ "Excellent" benchmark cap CO₂ at 800 ppm (≈ 1 440 mg/m³); WHO's 1-hour NO₂ guideline is 200 µg/m³ (≈ 0.106 ppm).
- · This converter assumes the gas is a trace mixed into air (ideal-gas dilution). When a gas's mole fraction exceeds ~1 % v/v, or under extreme T / p, the ideal-gas formula can drift by a few percent — switch to a real-gas equation of state (van der Waals, Peng-Robinson) for those cases.
- · References: NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards (NPG); OSHA 1910.1000 Tables Z; US EPA Air Quality Criteria documents; WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines (2021); ASHRAE 62.1-2022; HK EPD Indoor Air Quality guidelines.
Frequently asked
Why does "1 ppm" convert to a different mg/m³ for each gas?
Because "ppm" is a volume (mole) ratio while "mg/m³" is a mass measurement. Turning "how many molecules" into "how many milligrams" requires multiplying by the mass of each molecule — the molecular weight M. So 1 ppm of CO (M = 28.01) is 1.15 mg/m³, but 1 ppm of SO₂ (M = 64.07) is 2.62 mg/m³. By the same logic, how many molecules fit in 1 m³ depends on T and p (V_m = R·T/p), so the same gas converts ~9 % differently at 25 °C vs 0 °C (V_m = 24.466 vs 22.414 L/mol). The tool refreshes the conversion factor as soon as you change the gas, the temperature or the pressure.
My office CO₂ reads 1 500 ppm — does that exceed the ASHRAE limit?
ASHRAE 62.1 has no absolute CO₂ ceiling, but the indoor-air community widely uses "≤ 700 ppm above outdoor ambient" as a target. Outdoor CO₂ today is ~420 ppm, so the target maps to roughly 1 120 ppm indoors (~2 016 mg/m³ via this tool). At 1 500 ppm (≈ 2 700 mg/m³) you are above that guideline — a sign of under-ventilation and high occupancy — but still far below the occupational PEL (OSHA 5 000 ppm = 9 000 mg/m³ as an 8-hour TWA). Practical fixes: open windows, raise outdoor-air supply or upgrade filtration to MERV 13. Studies (Allen et al., EHP 2016) show concentration and decision-making degrade slightly above ~1 000 ppm — a productivity rather than safety concern.
Why do OSHA PEL and ACGIH TLV tables sometimes list ppm and sometimes mg/m³?
Industrial gases (CO, O₃, NO₂, formaldehyde, VOCs) span a wide range of molecular weights (17 to 200+ g/mol), so reporting in ppm — a mass-independent volume ratio — makes them comparable across compounds; standards usually list ppm and mg/m³ side-by-side for gases. For particulates (lead dust, silica, cotton fibre) and aerosols (diesel exhaust, welding fume) there is no gas-phase molecular weight to apply, so OSHA / ACGIH report only mg/m³ or µg/m³. This tool handles gas-phase conversions only; particulate exposures already arrive in mg/m³. In real-world ventilation design and instrument reading (photoacoustic CO detectors output ppm, ICP-MS heavy metals output µg/m³), keeping the unit consistent at every step is the key to avoiding tenfold errors.
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