HALL - CARPENTER, CO.
By Edwin T. Scallon, Copyright © 1990, 1995, 2008, 2020 All Rights Reserved
ACCIDENT RECONSTRUCTION AND BAC CALCULATION PROGRAMS
This is NOT a dissertation or an anthology of the authors personal feelings regarding the social or legal use of alcohol. It rather is a place where one can understand what Alcohol, (EtOH) is, historically, chemically, its use, consumption, elimination and determination of ones BAC (blood alcohol concentration) by several means.
Primarily, it is a simple expose of GIGO. GIGO's literal meaning comes from the United States Military lingo.Simply put it means Garbage in; Garbage Out. What one puts in, one gets out; one way or another. You will read that the most common way alcohol is introduced to the human body is through oral consumption. You might also lean what occurs once alcohol in "on board".
When I refer to alcohol I mean all those words which are synonymous with alcohol, like the generic term alcohol, we also mean (EtOH), the alcohol used in beverages. We will observe how the consumption of alcohol effects a person's central nervous system, the circulatory system and the hepatic portal system. These areas are the central concerns within this area of the web site. Alcohol is also known as ethanol, EtOH, alcohol along with several other slang expressions however, we will use the more accepted terms interchangeably here during our discussions. The several specific areas of interest are paginated on the left of this page in the accordion panels.
Take some time and review how the police or doctors get to decide "how much" alcohol one has consumed. Also, if you are a student of history, I have "distilled" the history of alcohol in a more comfortable swallow than one would "ingest" in college.
Remember this quote by Austin O'Malley found in American Maxims, " There are a lot more old drunks than old doctors". Actually, I have recited that quote to many doctors of several disciplines and oddly enough, none have disagreed with me. To a reasonable degree of medical certainty, health is destroyed by alcohol! Austin O'Malley was born in 1858 and died in 1932, and was himself a physician who lived to be 74 years old.
Although Austin O' Malley may have made several notable quotes, he never lived long enough to have a Breathalyzer test performed since another doctor, Dr. Hager had not invented the method yet. It would not be until 1938 that the first breath test for the determination of EtOH in the human breath would be introduced.
I do not believe any person who has observed the denigration of motor skill will disagree that there is a proportional loss of motor skills with the volume of alcohol consumed. We now will learn "How much is too much" and when it is safe to operate a motor vehicle after consumption of alcohol. Also, we will learn whether to believe or even trust the more "modern" breath test instruments currently used by the local constabularies.