Drug tests look for traces of drugs in the body. Most tests in Australia require you to provide breath, urine or saliva samples. have been taken or are impaired, except the alcohol test, which measures the disorder.
The police use these tests to indirectly measure how much alcohol is in a person's blood. (Alcohol Breathalyzer and Drug testing equipment are usually done at traffic stops, much easier and safer than roadside blood tests!) How do the tests work? Take a look at this infographic and read more below:
- The breathalyzer, the most famous portable device for determining breath alcohol levels, was invented in 1954.
- Alcohol breathalyzer and drug testing equipment use the amount of alcohol in the exhaled breath to determine the amount of alcohol in a. to calculate a person's blood, also known as blood alcohol concentration (BAC). How:
- When a person drinks alcohol, it enters the stomach and small intestine and is quickly absorbed into the blood.
- Within minutes of a person drinking an alcoholic beverage, that person's BAC can be measured. BAC generally peaks around an hour after drinking it.
- About 90 percent of the alcohol consumed is broken down by the liver; the rest is excreted in the urine and breath.
- The breath test device converts the amount of alcohol in the breath into a corresponding BAK.
- Throughout the United States, the BAC of an adult driver cannot legally exceed 0.08 percent. All states also have "zero tolerance" laws for drivers under the age of 21; It is forbidden for minors to drive with any detectable amount of alcohol.
- The adult BAC limit was set at 0.08 percent because the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration funded several studies of drunk driving and found that virtually all driving-related skills were severely impaired at this level.
- How quickly and for how long the alcohol level in a person's breath increases depends on many factors, including the person's weight, gender, amount of alcohol consumed, and last food intake.
- This particular type of test only works with alcohol. Scientists are working on a similar method to measure marijuana spoilage.