What is a Breathalyzer?
The term “breathalyzer” is actually the brand name of the breath-analyzing products manufactured by Smith and Wesson in the late 1950s, an improvement of the much more cumbersome “drunkometer” developed in 1938. The term, nevertheless, has come to be a generic term for any make or model instrument designed to determine the amount of alcohol in the blood of a subject by analyzing the breath. Literally dozens of breathalyzer models exist, most hand-held. Because of their frequent use as evidence in criminal courts, their design and performance is subject to highly prescribed regulations. How Does it Work? Alcohol is not digested in the body; it is simply absorbed into the tissues of the mouth, throat, stomach and intestines and eventually excreted. In part, alcohol leaves the body via the breath; because the percent of the total blood alcohol that exists this way is predictable, the alcohol content of the breath can be used to calculate the total blood alcohol content, or BAC. The hand-h
