Convert Siemens/Meter to Picosiemens/Meter
Siemens/Meter (S/m) to Picosiemens/Meter (pS/m) electric conductivity conversion — enter any value below to get an instant result, or use the table for common values.
Results from this calculator are estimates provided for general informational purposes only, based on formulas, rates, and standards commonly accepted as of 2026. Figures may differ slightly from other calculators or professional sources due to rounding methods, differing assumptions, or regional regulations, and rules may change over time. Always consult a qualified professional — such as a financial advisor, healthcare provider, or other relevant specialist — before making decisions based on these results.
Result
1 S/m = 1E+12 pS/m
1 Siemens/Meter = 1E+12 Picosiemens/Meter
1 Picosiemens/Meter = 1E-12 Siemens/Meter
1 S/m in every supported unit
Conversion chart: Siemens/Meter to Picosiemens/Meter
Conversion table
| Siemens/Meter (S/m) | Picosiemens/Meter (pS/m) |
|---|---|
| 0.01 S/m | 1E+10 pS/m |
| 0.1 S/m | 1E+11 pS/m |
| 1 S/m | 1E+12 pS/m |
| 2 S/m | 2E+12 pS/m |
| 3 S/m | 3E+12 pS/m |
| 5 S/m | 5E+12 pS/m |
| 10 S/m | 1E+13 pS/m |
| 20 S/m | 2E+13 pS/m |
| 50 S/m | 5E+13 pS/m |
| 100 S/m | 1E+14 pS/m |
| 1000 S/m | 1E+15 pS/m |
Siemens/Meter (S/m)
Definition: The SI derived unit of electrical conductivity — a material property equal to the conductance in siemens of a sample exactly one meter long with a cross-sectional area of one square meter. It is the reciprocal of resistivity, measured in ohm-meters (Ω·m).
History: It follows directly from the 1971 SI adoption of the siemens as the unit of conductance; once conductance itself had a standard name, dividing it by length gave materials science and geophysics a standard SI unit for the intrinsic, size-independent conductivity of a material.
Current use: The standard unit for tabulating and comparing how well different materials — metals, semiconductors, electrolytes, soils, seawater — conduct electricity, independent of the size or shape of any particular sample being measured.
Picosiemens/Meter (pS/m)
Definition: One-trillionth of a siemens per meter, an SI-prefixed submultiple used for the extremely low conductivity values typical of very good insulators and dielectric materials.
History: The pico- prefix was adopted into the metric system in 1960 as part of the formal establishment of the modern SI, and was applied to siemens/meter as a natural extension once both the siemens and the SI prefix table existed.
Current use: Used in materials science and cable/insulation engineering to express the residual conductivity of dielectrics such as high-purity polymers, ceramics, or vacuum-like insulating gaps, where whole siemens/meter values would be inconveniently small fractions.
Supported Units
| Unit | Symbol | In Siemens/Meter |
|---|---|---|
| Siemens/Meter | S/m | 1 S/m |
| Picosiemens/Meter | pS/m | 1E-12 S/m |
| Mho/Meter | mho/m | 1 S/m |
| Mho/Centimeter | mho/cm | 100 S/m |
| Abmho/Meter | abmho/m | 1E+09 S/m |
| Abmho/Centimeter | abmho/cm | 1E+11 S/m |
| Statmho/Meter | stmho/m | 1.11265E-12 S/m |
| Statmho/Centimeter | stmho/cm | 1.11265E-10 S/m |
About These Parameters
- Value
- The conductivity value you want to convert, expressed in the "From" unit. Accepts decimals, and can represent anything from a picosiemens/meter-level insulator figure to a highly conductive metal or electrolyte's siemens/meter rating.
- From Unit
- The unit your input value is currently measured in — a modern material spec's siemens/meter (S/m) rating, or a legacy geophysical or water-quality figure quoted in mho/meter or mho/centimeter.
- To Unit
- The unit you want the result converted into. Use the swap button to flip From and To instantly, which is handy when translating an older mho-based reading into the modern siemens/meter or vice versa.
How Electric Conductivity Conversion Works
The Formula
Every unit here is defined by a fixed multiplier relative to siemens/meter. To convert a value from one unit to another:
result = value × (factor of "From" unit ÷ factor of "To" unit)
For Siemens/Meter → Picosiemens/Meter: multiply by 1E+12. For example, 1 S/m × 1E+12 = 1E+12 pS/m.
Conductivity vs. Conductance
It is easy to confuse conductivity with plain conductance, but the two describe different things. Conductance (siemens) is a property of one specific object — a particular wire, resistor, or component — and depends on that object's length and cross-sectional area as well as what it's made of. Conductivity (siemens per meter) strips out the geometry entirely and describes only the material itself: copper has a certain conductivity regardless of whether it's shaped into a thin wire or a thick busbar, even though the two objects would have very different conductance values. Conductivity is what lets engineers and scientists compare materials directly, and is also the reciprocal of resistivity (ohm-meters), the more commonly tabulated material property.
Per-Meter vs. Per-Centimeter
Several units on this page come in both per-meter and per-centimeter variants — mho/meter and mho/centimeter, abmho/meter and abmho/centimeter, statmho/meter and statmho/centimeter — because laboratory-scale conductivity probes and cells are typically built and calibrated at the centimeter scale, while the SI unit uses the meter as its base length. Since conductivity scales inversely with the length unit used, a per-centimeter value is always 100 times larger than the equivalent per-meter value expressed in the same underlying conductance unit — for example, 1 mho/cm equals 100 S/m, not 0.01 S/m, because using the smaller centimeter as the reference length makes each unit of conductivity "worth more" per meter of actual material.
Example
A conductivity of 1 S/m equals 1E+12 pS/m. For scale, copper — one of the best common electrical conductors — has a conductivity around 59.6 million siemens/meter, seawater is typically around 4-5 siemens/meter, and dry soil or high-purity insulating materials can fall below a microsiemens per meter.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Picosiemens/Meter are in 1 Siemens/Meter?
1 Siemens/Meter (S/m) equals exactly 1E+12 Picosiemens/Meter (pS/m).
What is the difference between electric conductivity and electric conductance?
Conductivity (siemens per meter) is an intrinsic material property, independent of an object's size or shape — it's what you'd look up to compare how well copper, seawater, or soil conducts electricity. Conductance (siemens) describes one specific object's ability to conduct current and depends on that object's length and cross-sectional area. Use this converter for the material property; use the companion Electric Conductance Converter for a specific component or object.
Is mho/meter the same as siemens/meter?
Yes — mho/meter and siemens/meter are numerically identical (1 mho/m = 1 S/m). "Mho" was the informal name for the unit of conductance before the siemens was standardized in 1935, and per-length "mho" units still appear in older geophysical and electrochemical literature.
Why does mho/centimeter equal 100 siemens/meter instead of a smaller number?
It comes down to how the unit is built: mho/centimeter uses centimeters, a smaller length unit, in its denominator. Since there are 100 centimeters in a meter, expressing conductivity "per centimeter" packs the same physical conductivity into a shorter reference length, which multiplies the numeric value by 100 when converted to the meter-based siemens/meter — it is not a different physical quantity, just a different length scale.
What are abmho/meter and statmho/meter used for today?
Abmho/meter (from the CGS-EMU system) and statmho/meter (from the CGS-ESU system) are 19th-century conductivity units that predate the SI. They're almost never used in modern engineering, appearing mainly in historical physics literature and theoretical work that still frames electromagnetic calculations in native CGS units.