Can you beat a breathalyzer test by sucking on a penny before (or maybe while) you blow?

Question

One of my friends told me that he did.

Additional Details

There are at least 3 kinds of breathalyzers according to howstuffworks. Maybe there's some metal in the penny that either absorbs something the breathalyzer detects, or reacts with something in the mouth releasing some gas that somehow hides the alcohol or confuses the machine.

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

No. While visiting a state police station some years ago, I found out how breathalyzers work. It uses the same principle that I used in a high school chemistry experiment: reduction of silver nitrate to metallic silver, using a mild reducing agent. In the high school experiment, the reducer was sugar, but in a breathalyzer it is the alcohol in your breath. The same technique was used for many years to prepare silvered mirrors. (Nowadays, aluminum is used, because it is cheaper and stronger.) The breathalyzer chemicals include an oxidizing agent, which restores the silver nitrate for further use. So, the bottom line is: if you have alcohol on your breath, the breathalyzer will see it.

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

I saw most of this on howstuffworks.com, however I'm not convinced that there is no way to beat the machine. I really wish someone would just test the penny trick out.

Answer 2

that sounds like crap. ask mythbusters at
discovery channel.com

Answer 3

Your freind is full of chit too

Answer 4

no.

Answer 5

You can't suck and blow at the same time.

Answer 6

No it doesn't work that way. Sucking on a penny is like buying a lotto ticket for jail.

Answer 7

No very few things can mess up a breathalyzer

Answer 8

Your friend fooled you.

Answer 9

your friend is a retarded alcoholic.

Answer 10

no

Answer 11

maybe...if you swalloed one before and one after drinking. but if ur driving you may not be alive or atleast driving for long if you actually needed to beat the breath a lyzer.

Answer 12

I heard U could give a false reading if U eat peanuts??

Answer 13

how about not trying to beat the breathalizer! i bet your friend won't go to jail for you when you kill or hurt someone for drinking and driving!

Answer 14

I heard that eating dirt can beat a breathalizer. Seriously I have some friends that did that. Best thing is not to drink and drive.

Answer 15

I doubt seriously that the police officer will let you put the penny in your mouth before he asks you to blow. AND if by chance you had the thought to put a penny in your mouth before getting pulled over, then you obviously aren't drunk enough to need a breathalyzer anyway.

Answer 16

Not only does a penny make no difference to the breathalyzer test, but also, it makes no difference to the driving ability when drunk, or to the blood alcohol level when it is tested after the drunk is involved in a car accident.

Answer 17

No, and if i might give you a little free advice, don`t listen to that friend about anything important, ya know, stuff that could land your butt in jail or the E.R.

Answer 18

No way, dont even think of trying, anyone who beleives that could end up disqualified, in hospital, dead, or with the guilt of killing someone.

Answer 19

i heard that those red and white spiral peppermints you get at restaurant checkouts will beat a breathalyzer and are tastier than pennies

Answer 20

don't believe everything you hear. I suspect he wants to see if you'd believe everything he says.

Answer 21

I think it is impossible. Don't be so foolish to try this. I am sure that your friend is telling lie. Don't believe him.

Answer 22

Oxidation reactions? What? No, if it was on oxidation reaction, putting a penny in your mouth would work. A breathalizer does IR spectroscopy. Basically, it looks for a carboxilate group (the -OH group in an alcohol). It gives off a certain signature that the breathalizer looks for. If the -OH group is present, it tells you how much is there as a percent of other molecules present. But, if you happen to have some rubbing alcohol present, take a swig, then you could just say you weren't drunk, just stupid and sippin on gin and isopropyl. Don't know if you vision is worth fooling a breathalizer.

Source(s):

Me.

Answer 23

Your friend is ignorant.