Tuesday, 23 February 2016

How an alcohol tester works in 4 quick steps

Many people wonder how an alcohol tester can work by simply testing your breath. How can that possibly be linked with the amount of alcohol in your bloodstream? Especially if you’ve had plenty water to drink and something to eat in the meantime. However, alcohol testing with breath analysis is highly accurate – here’s how it works.

You drink alcohol

The amount of alcohol you drink is constant, but individual variables will affect the speed at which it is absorbed into your body.

Absorption occurs

Alcohol is quite a small molecule and it doesn’t change as it is absorbed into your bloodstream, unlike the larger proteins and carbs in the food we eat.

Alcohol circulates

The alcohol moves around your body, affecting the way signals are sent around your brain – causing the effects of alcohol as we know them.

It reaches the lungs

When the alcohol circulating in your blood reaches the lungs, it will readily diffuse out of the blood, just as carbon dioxide does. Therefore, if you have alcohol in your blood you will also exhale alcohol, which can be detected by alcohol testing.

Problems with Alcohol Testing
Some problems can occur with alcohol testing because of two assumptions:

     ·         Alcohol detected on the breath may not have come from the bloodstream
     ·         The conversion of amount of alcohol measured to percentage of blood alcohol can vary among individuals.

Still, alcohol testing with the current breathalyzer and tools gives us readings that are generally accurate to ± 10%. This is accurate enough for the police to require blood alcohol testing, if you blow above a certain amount.


Supply Doctor is an online medical supply store that can provide you with the medical equipment you need at an affordable price. Looking for an alcohol tester to take with you on the go? Browse through the website and you'll find exactly what you need!

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