Other than drinking alcohol, what will give you a positive reading on a breathaliser test for the presence of alcohol?

guitargoddess

A mouthwash such as Listerine will, because it has a fairly high alcohol content. So alcohol would be on your breath, but not in your bloodstream. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breathalyzer#Common_sources_of_error Nov 22 07, 3:27 PM

zbeckabee

There are many variables. Listerine, for example, contains 27% alcohol; because the breath machine will assume the alcohol is coming from alcohol in the blood diffusing into the lung rather than directly from the mouth, it will apply a "partition ratio" of 2100:1 in computing blood alcohol concentration—resulting in a false high test reading. Breath testers can be very sensitive to temperature, for example, and will give false readings if not adjusted or recalibrated to account for ambient or surrounding air temperatures. The temperature of the subject is also very important. Some breath analysis machines assume a hematocrit (cell volume of blood) of 47%. However, hematocrit values range from 42 to 52% in men and from 37 to 47% in women. A person with a lower hematocrit will have a falsely high BAC reading. Improper maintenance and useage. Etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breathalizer#Common_sources_of_error Nov 22 07, 3:36 PM