TUTORIAL 1

BLOOD ALCOHOL CONTENT (BAC) CALCULATIONS

BEVERAGE TECHNOLOGY (FSI 35303)

Answer ALL questions. Beware the UNITS!

Given,

BAC = [ (MA / W.r) – (RE.t) ] x 100 %

where BAC = Blood alcohol content (kg/L % or BAC % or g/100 mL)
MA = Mass of alcohol consumed (kg)
W = Body weight of alcohol consumer (kg)
r = Widmark constant (Male = 0.68 L/kg, Female = 0.55 L/kg)
RE = Rate of alcohol elimination in body (0.015 g/100 mL/hr)
t = Time from first drink (hr)

Density of alcohol is 0.789 kg/L

1. A 77-kg man consumed seven 340-g bottles of regular beer (5% alcohol)
between 8 PM and midnight. What was his BAC at 12:30 AM?

2. A 60-kg woman consumed four 150-mL glasses of wine (12% alcohol) from 8
PM. What was her BAC at midnight?

3. A 52-kg woman consumed four 35-g shots of whiskey (35% alcohol) between 9
PM and 11 PM. What was her BAC at 2 AM?

4. A man (82 kg) drank five 150-mL glasses of wine from 10 PM to midnight. If his
BAC at 3 AM was 0.089, what is the percentage of alcohol in his wine?

5. A 93-kg man consumed six 340-g bottles of light beer (4% alcohol) and three
150-mL glasses of wine (12% alcohol) between 7 PM and 10 PM, and was found
by a breath testing instrument to have a BAC of 0.097 at 11:15 PM. Is the test
result consistent with the amount of alcohol consumed?

6. A 66-kg woman drank several glasses of beer (7% alcohol) and was checked for
her BAC two hours later. If her BAC was 0.128, how much beer had she
consumed in mL?

7. A man (86 kg) started drinking glasses of wine (10% alcohol) at 9 PM and was
given a breath test that indicated a BAC of 0.14 kg/L % at 2 AM. How much wine
(in mL) had he consumed?

8. A breath test on a woman showed a BAC of 0.125, after she had consumed
three 150-mL glasses of wine (12% alcohol) 2 hours before the test. The night
before that, her BAC at 11 PM was 0.095 after drinking three shots of brandy
(38% alcohol) at 8.30 PM. How much brandy (in g) had she consumed in one
shot?
9. A man drank three 55-g shots of tequila (40% alcohol) from 10 PM. Later on, he
was caught at midnight drunk-driving with BAC of 0.14, but released out of
mercy. The next day, the man was caught again in an accident at 11 PM with
BAC of 0.12, after drinking bottles of beer (4% alcohol) since 8.30 PM. How
much beer had he consumed in mL?

10. A 72-kg man who had consumed an unknown quantity of alcohol from 6 PM was
involved in an automobile accident at 9 PM. After the accident, the man
consumed 4 bottles of regular beer (340 g, 5% alcohol) beginning at 9:30 PM. At
11 PM He was arrested and was given a breath test that indicated a BAC of
0.14. What was his BAC at the time of the accident?

In the above examples, it was assumed that all consumed alcohol was fully absorbed
at the time for which the person’s BAC was calculated. This assumption may be valid
in situations where the alcohol was consumed on an empty stomach and an hour or
more had elapsed between the end of drinking and the time of calculation.

However, if food was present in the stomach at the time of drinking, or if any other
condition existed that would have slowed the rate of alcohol absorption, the
assumption is almost certain to be invalid.

If absorption was incomplete at the time for which the calculation is made, the
calculated BAC will be falsely high because the amount of alcohol absorbed into the
bloodstream was less than the amount assumed in the calculation. In other words,
the calculation can incorrectly assumes the presence in the bloodstream of
unabsorbed alcohol.