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Picometers to Angstroms Converter
↔ Convert Å to pm instead

Common Conversions

pm Å
10 0.1
25 0.25
50 0.5
53 0.53
75 0.75
96 0.96
100 1
120 1.2
134 1.34
154 1.54
200 2
500 5
1000 10

Why this conversion matters in chemistry

Bond lengths sit right at the seam between two unit conventions that refuse to fully resolve. IUPAC and most modern reference tables quote bond lengths in picometers — the C–C single bond is 154 pm, the O–H bond in water 96 pm. Crystallographers, structural biologists, and a generation of textbooks still write the same numbers in ångströms — 1.54 Å, 0.96 Å. Dividing by 100 moves between the two, and you reach for it any time a bond length you trust in one convention has to be checked against a value in the other.

Formula

Å = pm / 100

Worked Examples

154 pm = 1.54 Å

The canonical C–C single-bond length, the backbone distance behind every saturated organic structure.

96 pm = 0.96 Å

The O–H bond length in water — the same number you'll see in a vibrational analysis or a hydrogen-bonding paper.

120 pm = 1.20 Å

The C≡C triple bond in acetylene, the shortest carbon-carbon bond there is.

53 pm = 0.53 Å

The Bohr radius — the most probable electron-nucleus distance in ground-state hydrogen, and the natural length scale for atomic problems.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I convert picometers to ångströms?
Divide by 100. The relationship is exact: 1 Å = 100 pm = 10⁻¹⁰ m. So 154 pm is exactly 1.54 Å with no rounding.
Why do some references use pm and others Å?
The picometer is the SI-recommended unit and IUPAC's preference. The ångström was the working unit of crystallography for most of the twentieth century, so it persists in PDB files, structural-biology papers, and textbook bond-length tables. Both express atomic-scale distances; the choice comes down to which community wrote the reference you're reading.
What is the Bohr radius in picometers?
The Bohr radius a₀ is 52.918 pm, or 0.5292 Å. It sets the natural length scale for the hydrogen atom and shows up everywhere in atomic-physics derivations as the unit that makes the equations clean.
What are typical atomic radii in picometers?
Covalent radii sit roughly in the 30–250 pm range — H around 31 pm, C around 77 pm, O around 73 pm, S around 104 pm, Cs around 244 pm by the Cordero compilation. Van der Waals radii run noticeably larger: H around 120 pm, O around 152 pm, C around 170 pm.