Duncan Law Firm LLC

The Intoxilyzer 5000, is the instrument used here in Georgia for breathalyzer tests.  If you are curious, here are the technical specs on the instrument.

From Wikipedia: A breathalyzer (a portmanteau of breath and analyzer) is a device for estimating blood alcohol content (BAC) from a breath sample.

As a dui attorney it is part of my job to know and understand what a breathalyzer can and cannot do. Below are some basic facts (source) you should know about breathalyzer tests.

• Intoxilyzer 5000 is designed to analyze a sample of a person’s breath based on Henry’s law ( a chemical gas law but this law cannot be properly applied to the human lungs).
• Intoxilyzer breathalyzer is designed to produce a breath alcohol result exactly corresponding to a simultaneous blood alcohol sample. ( this is based on some assumptions that are not always true).
• Intoxilyzer 5000 assumes the test subject is in the elimination phase, rather than the absorption phase. It is rarely known whether the person is still absorbing alcohol from their last drink when the breath test is administered.
• Intoxilyzer assumes the temperature of the person’s exhaled breath is 34 degrees Centigrade. Core body temperature for humans is 37 degrees Centigrade.
• Mouth alcohol can lead to erroneous breath sample results.

Again if you are pulled over for DUI contact a professional DUI attorney rather than defend yourself.