The Sampling Problem (and Solution) in Breath Alcohol Testing
The Sampling Problem (and Solution) in Breath Alcohol Testing
If you don't define breath alcohol properly, you get massive uncertainty in the results.
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Now on to the problem of sampling in breath alcohol!
The sampling problem in breath alcohol testing
Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt.1 Leviticus 19:35-36
What is a breath?
An important legal question is, 'What is breath?' That is, at what point in a continuous exhalation does the sample's alcohol concentration constitute the statutory breath alcohol concentration? - Lubkin, Gullberg, et al.2
If you’re going to make a measurement of something, it is essential to know what you are measuring. This is especially true if the measurement has the potential to take away someone’s license or liberty.
Defining breath alcohol isn’t as easy as it sounds. This is because breath alcohol is a heterogenous substance whose concentration continuously rises throughout exhalation.