How to visualize one part per million - Kim Preshoff + The TED-Ed Community

譯者: Helen Chang 審譯者: S Sung

What does it mean to be one in a million?

百萬分之一是什麼意思？

Not in the greeting card sense,

我指的並非賀卡上寫的「萬中選一。」

in the scientific sense,

在科學的意義上，

where one part per million is a unit of measurement.

「百萬分率（ppm）」 是個計量的單位。

Parts per million counts the number of units of one substance

百萬分率計數某一種物質

per one million units of another.

在百萬個另一種物質中佔有的數目。

It can measure concentrations when a small amount makes a big difference.

在測量濃度時，少量的 ppm 可以產生很大的差別。

For example, a concentration of just 35 ppm of carbon monoxide in the air

例如，空氣中的一氧化碳 就算濃度只有 35ppm

is poisonous to us.

也對我們有毒。

We encounter measurements like this pretty often,

我們常遇到類似這樣的測量，

but because it's hard to conceptualize really large numbers,

但因極大的數字不容易被概念化，

it's difficult to wrap our brain around what one part per million really means.

我們的大腦很難解讀 百萬分之一的真正含義。

So here are nine helpful ways to visualize it.

因此，這裡有九個幫助想像的方法

If you had 11,363 pianos-worth of piano keys,

如果你有11,363 架鋼琴的琴鍵總和，

one of those keys would be about one part per million.

其中的一鍵約是百萬分之一。

So would a single granule of sugar among 273 sugar cubes,

同樣，273 顆方糖中的一粒糖沙，

one second in eleven and a half days,

十一天半時間中的一秒，

or four dots in the painting,

或《大碗島的星期日下午》 點彩畫中的四個點，

"A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte."

也是百萬分之一。

Your bath tub's capacity is about 60 gallons,

浴缸的蓄水量約 60 加侖，

so seven drops of ink would be one part per million.

所以七滴墨水是百萬分之一。

The English version of the Harry Potter series has 1,084,170 words,

哈利·波特系列的英文版 共有 1,084,170 字，

which makes "hippogriff" on page 221 of "The Prisoner of Azkaban"

使得「阿茲卡班的囚徒」221 頁的 「駿鷹（hippogriff）」

a little less than one part per million.

略少於百萬分之一。

A million kernels of corn is about 1,250 ears,

1250 根玉米棒約有 一百萬顆玉米粒，

so one kernel in that truckload would be one part per million.

因此載滿一卡車裡的一顆穀粒 是百萬分之一。

There are 10 million bricks in the Empire State Building,

帝國大廈砌有一千萬塊磚頭，

so one part per million would be a pile of just ten.

所以疊起十塊磚是百萬分之一。

And finally, 100 people worked together to animate this video.

最後，一百個人共同製作這齣動畫，

Collectively, they have about 10 million hairs on their heads.

他們的頭髮共約一千萬根，

Pluck ten of those hairs, and you have one in a million.

拔下十根是百萬分之一。