Investigating the Chemistry Inside the Breathalyzer: Oxidation of Ethanol to Acetic Acid

This exploratory/investigative experiment is designed to provide a set of laboratory skills to meet the 21st century technology standard to the students. This experiment asks the students to investigate the oxidation -reduction chemistry behind the breathalyzer. Law enforcement agencies use this chemistry as a technology to evaluate the degree of alcohol intoxication of a subject. This experiment asks the students to learn the chemical steps involved in the conversion of ethanol to acetic acid, set up the process as a laboratory experiment to isolate and quantify the products. A detailed instructional plan including pre-lab or outline, a procedure, experimental set-up, list of reagents and materials, including safety protocol is described here-in.
Students are expected to learn the spectroscopic techniques such as infrared spectroscopy to identify and quantify the products in this experiment.