Just_Testing, and anybody else reading this:
I realise this is somewhat O/T and maybe should by now be moved to the Tech Log..... But I thought it would be interesting to let the subject run its course and get the questions answered.
Originally Posted by
Just_Testing
..."the prescribed limit" means, as the case may require—
(a) 35 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath,
(b) 80 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, or
(c) 107 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of urine...
Now although that 35 microgrammes is a tiny amount, remember it is only a "sample" of the alcohol in your breath, but it is directly proportional to the remainder of the alcohol from your three glasses of wine, which still remain inside you and haven't yet been metabolised.
Blood: 80mg/100ml = 0.8g/ltr = 4g/5 ltr (5ltr being the typical blood volume in the human body)
Urine: 107mg/100ml = 1.07g/ltr = 0.5g/0.5ltr (about the normal human limit, I would think).
That's 4.5 g accounted for.
Three glasses of wine contain in the order of 40 to 50g of alcohol..... where's the remainder? They won't yet have been metabolised, as you said... that takes several hours. I would expect most of them to have been absorbed in the bloodstream after an hour or so.... clearly not.... there's an order of magnitude difference.
Any clues?
Baffled Boffin.
Edit: the rest of the technical discussion has now been moved to a new thread in Tech Log called Calculating Alcohol Levels, where it really belonged anyway.
The final answer is simply that most of the alcohol diffuses in the body tissues, with only about 10% remaining in the bloodstream. See the thread in Tech Log for details.