Blood Alcohol Content

by Chris Ludwin

Submitted : Spring 2011

A set of differential equations were given, describing blood alcohol concentration as a function of time. Using the concepts of chemical rate laws, the equations were integrated, and appropriate substitutions made, resulting in a solution equation with three free parameters. The first parameter is the initial concentration of alcohol in the stomach after ingestion, with the other two determining the rate of absorption into the blood stream, and the rate at which the alcohol is metabolized. The provided experimental data for blood alcohol concentration over time was then plotted and the proposed solution formula fitted to the data by minimizing mean absolute error through finding optimal values for the unknowns. Based on the resulting accuracy of the calculated values (%94.4) the method was determined to be a valid technique for modeling blood alcohol levels from a set of data.

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