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For some reason, I can only find the answer in ppm and I don’t know how to do this conversion.

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What I think you are asking for is the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The partial pressure of carbon dioxide can be determined, where,

$P_{CO_2} \ = \ x_{CO_2}\cdot P_{atm}$

One mole of any substance is equal to exactly 6.022⋅1023 molecules of that substance (Avogadro's number, $N_A$).

The number of moles of carbon dioxide is,

$Moles\ of\ CO_2 \ = \ Number\ of\ molecules\ of\ CO_2 \cdot N_A$

If the atmosphere has a carbon dioxide concentration of 400 ppm, then

$n_{CO_2}\ = \ \frac{400}{1\ 000\ 000} \cdot N_A \ = \ 0.0004 \cdot N_A$

Thus, the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will be,

$P_{CO_2} \ = 0.0004 \cdot 101\ 325 \ = \ 40.53 \ Pa \ = 0.0004 \ atm \ = \ 0.304 \ mmHg$

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Not nearly so elegant as @fred answer: 400 ppm = 0.04% , then CO 2 is 0,04 % or 0.0004 atm.

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  • $\begingroup$ More elegant :) $\endgroup$ Aug 18, 2022 at 6:13

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