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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1999  > April  >
Chemistry Everyday for Everyone
Uncertainty in the Results of Breath-Alcohol Analyses
Dominick A. Labianca
Department of Chemistry, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY 11210
Cover
April 1999
Vol. 76 No. 4
p. 508
Abstract
This article provides information that expands upon and clarifies certain points put forth by Robert Q. Thompson in his article, "The Thermodynamics of Drunk Driving" (J. Chem. Educ. 1997, 74, 532-536). I have reservations concerning the limited scope and basis of some of Thompson's conclusions, and offer information consistent with a broader perspective. The principal focus of Thompson's work is on the postabsorptive state of alcohol metabolism. He makes recommendations concerning the application of breath-alcohol analysis to motor vehicle operators arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol, assuming they are postabsorptive. I question the validity of a uniform application of this assumption to all DUI arrestees. Arguments are presented to support the position that many DUI arrestees can be in the absorptive state. Under that condition, breath-alcohol analysis can be particularly discriminatory to test subjects, and I have provided data consistent with this conclusion.
More Information
*  Citation
 Labianca, Dominick A. J. Chem. Educ. 1999 76 508.
*  Keywords
 Analytical Chemistry; absorptive state; postabsorptive state; blood/breath ratio
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 June 14, 1999
June 23, 2005
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