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Help please? really stuck!

Hi, ive got a question thats asking me to express the concentration of two gasses (CO2 and Methane) in the atmosphere as a ratio. The concentration of CO2 is 380ppm (parts per million) and Methane is 1750ppb (parts per billion) What type of calculation would i need to use to work out the ratio between these, to two significant figures? (the ratio needs to be in the format x:1 (x is a whole number to 2 sig figs)

also, would i need to make them both in parts per billion to work it out?

any help would be appreciated, thank you :smile:
Reply 1
Multiply the CO2 figure by 1000 to make it into parts per billion, then divide CO2 by methane. That is then how many CO2 there is to each single methane.
Reply 2
thanks, ive divided them and its gave me a decimal number, is it the CO2 to the left hand side of the decimal point and methane to the right hand side?
also, after ive worked that out, how do i simplify the ratio to its simplest form?
thank you
Reply 3
Once you have divided the CO2 figure by the methane figure then you have the no. of parts CO2 to one part methane. Then for your q all you have to do is reduce the answer to two significant figures.

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