You have a young wheat crop that is growing slowly. The farmer did not apply phosphorus, and you suspect a phosphorus deficiency. You clip off some leaves and send them to a lab to be analyzed for P. The lab says that the leaves contain 270 ppm of P. A textbook says that normal young wheat leaves typically contain 0.2 to 0.25% P. Convert the laboratory value from ppm to percent. Were the plants deficient with regards to phosphorus?
Expert Answer
Answer
We know that 1% = (1 g)/(100 g) (assuming we are working with weight and g is the unit of weight) = 1/100 = 1.0*10-2.
Again, 1ppm = (1 g)/(106 g) = 1.0*10-6 = (1.0*10-4)*(1.0*10-2) = (1.0*10-4)*(1 %) = 1.0*10-4% = 0.0001.
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Question & Answer: You have a young wheat crop that is growing slowly. The farmer did not apply phosphorus,…..
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Therefore, 270 ppm = (270)*(0.0001%) = 0.027% (ans).
The typical P content of normal young wheat leaves is 0.2-0.25%; however, the test specimens contained only 0.027% P. Therefore, the plants were indeed deficient in P (ans).