Parts per million (ppm) 10
−6
This is a way of expressing very dilute concentrations of substances. Just as per cent means out
of a hundred, so parts per million or ppm means out of a million. Usually describes the
concentration of something in water or soil. One ppm is equivalent to 1 milligram of something
per liter of water (mg/l) or 1 milligram of something per kilogram soil (mg/kg).
ppm (parts-per-million, 10
−6
), ppb (parts-per-billion, 10
−9
), ppt (parts-per-trillion, 10
−12
) and
ppq (parts-per-quadrillion, 10
−15
).
One part per million (ppm) denotes one part per 1,000,000 parts, one part in 10
6
, 1/1,000,000 *
100% = 0.0001% (or 1% = 10,000 ppm), and a value of 1 × 10
−6
. This is equivalent to one drop
of water diluted into 50 liters (roughly the fuel tank capacity of a compact car) or about 32
seconds out of a year.
Tetramethylsilane
Tetramethylsilane is the organosilicon compound with the formula Si(CH₃)₄. It is the simplest
tetraorganosilane. Like all silanes, the TMS framework is tetrahedral.
What is Single-crystal X-ray Diffraction
Single-crystal X-ray Diffraction is a non-destructive analytical technique which provides detailed
information about the internal lattice of crystalline substances, including unit cell dimensions,
bond-lengths, bond-angles, and details of site-ordering. Directly related is single-crystal
refinement, where the data generated from the X-ray analysis is interpreted and refined to obtain
the crystal structure.
The single crystal diffractometer and associated computer package is used mainly to elucidate
the molecular structure of novel compounds, either natural products or man made molecules.
Powder diffraction is mainly used for “finger print identification” of various solid materials,
e.g. asbestos, quartz.
In powder or polycrystalline diffraction it is important to have a sample with a smooth plane
surface. If possible, we normally grind the sample down to particles of about 0.002 mm to 0.005
mm cross section. The ideal sample is homogeneous and the crystallites are randomly distributed
(we will later point out problems which will occur if the specimen deviates from this ideal state).
The sample is pressed into a sample holder so that we have a smooth flat surface.