Lethal dose of alcohol in human blood in ppm. What are the acceptable ppm of alcohol in the blood?

After drinking a small amount of beer, a driver's blood test can show the permissible alcohol limit. Alcohol abuse is a pressing problem in society. Many drivers boldly get behind the wheel after drinking alcoholic beverages. If a driver's indicators differ from the permissible norm, the traffic police inspector has every right to make an arrest.

How much can you drink while driving?

Driving a vehicle while intoxicated is extremely dangerous. Ethyl alcohol has a destructive effect on the human body and disrupts vital processes. The driver, through simple calculations, can independently determine how much he can drink while driving and protect himself from punishment. Most beers contain 3-6% alcohol.

A man weighing 75 kg, drinking 100 g of beer, has an alcohol content of 0.08 ppm (he received 0.08 g of alcohol per 1 kg of weight). This amount is 4 times less than the permissible alcohol limit. The average man can drink no more than 400 grams of beer before driving. You cannot deceive your body: a bottle of beer shows the presence of alcohol above the norm. Ethyl alcohol neutralizes the liver; it does this at a rate of 0.1 ppm per hour in men and 0.085 in women. Using a simple arithmetic trick, you can calculate when it will be completely neutralized.

What is the permissible alcohol limit?

It is known that the permissible alcohol limit is the number of ppm that can be contained in the driver’s blood or in his exhaled air. The numerical expression of this was shown as follows: 0.35 is the permissible level of alcohol in the blood, 0.16 is the permissible level of alcohol in exhaled air. These indicators are determined using special instruments. The permissible value is determined taking into account the possible error.

Permissible alcohol limit while driving in ppm

The permissible limit of alcohol while driving in ppm suggests a minimum amount of alcohol that does not cause abnormalities in the mental and physiological state. Driving a vehicle requires concentration, redistribution of attention, reaction speed, and a generally stable emotional state and well-being. A drunk driver poses a serious danger on the road. The indicator 0.35 is the permissible norm per mille, which does not violate physiology and mental processes.

What determines the legal limit for alcohol while driving?

Since 2013, the permissible limit of alcohol while driving has been increased in the Russian Federation. This does not mean that the permitted ppm allow you to completely freely drive a vehicle while slightly intoxicated. The revision of the indicator (previously it corresponded to zero) is associated with the peculiarities of digestion of certain foods and drinks; this list included:

  • non-alcoholic beer;
  • bread kvass;
  • sweet yeast baked goods;
  • fermented milk products (for example, kefir and yogurt);
  • orange and other fruit juices;
  • overripe bananas;
  • chocolate.

This group includes medicines (for example, alcohol tinctures), tobacco products. After taking these products and medications, a small amount of ethanol enters the bloodstream, which is easily detected by a breathalyzer. Many drivers have been fined simply because of their culinary preferences. For this reason, the permissible standards have been revised.

What is ppm

To calculate fractions of a whole, it is not always convenient to use percentages, because sometimes there is a need to operate, for example, with thousandths. The physical meaning of 1 ppm is a tenth of a percent. Promille is a small precise unit of measurement for assessing impurities in liquids, a thousandth. When determining alcohol in the blood, 1% is a very large indicator, so smaller units are used to determine the degree of intoxication.

How to count ppm

Any driver needs to be able to correctly count ppm, especially after drinking alcohol, even if the feast took place the day before. The speed of neutralization of alcohol depends on the strength of the drink, its volume, the person’s body weight, the amount of fluid in the body, gender, individual characteristics of the body, and the physiological state of the liver.

0.1 ppm corresponds to 0.045 mg of alcohol per 1 liter, this may seem like a negligible numerical value, but it accurately determines the degree of intoxication. Drivers do not take into account the time period of ethanol “weathering” and get behind the wheel. A glass of beer 6% (200 ml) will be completely neutralized by a human body weighing 80 kg only after 1 hour 57 minutes. This is important to know for any person who plans to drive after drinking alcohol.

In the absence of ready-made tables at hand, we learn to solve a simple problem: “The mass of a man is 82 kg. He drank 50 ml of vodka, the strength of which is 40%, and plans to drive. The proportion of water in the male body is about 70%. How many ppm will the device for determining the degree of intoxication show?

  1. We determine the mass of water using the proportion: 82 kg * 70% : 100% = 57.4 kg.
  2. We count the amount of pure ethanol: 500 ml * 0.4 = 200 ml. In grams, this is 200 ml * 0.79 = 158 g (0.79 is the density of pure ethanol). 100% alcohol content 158 ​​g – 10% = 142.2 g.
  3. 142.2/57.4 = 2.48. The figure is far from normal. It could mean losing your driver's license and facing legal action.

Degree of intoxication in ppm

Going on a trip while drunk is dangerous, because even the permissible level of alcohol does not guarantee safety while driving. Three degrees of intoxication in ppm are generally accepted:

  1. From 0.8 to 1.2 – corresponds to the initial stage, there is a disturbance in the perception of distance, the angle of lateral vision is distorted, and when switching headlights to high beam, the effect of temporary blindness is clearly pronounced.
  2. From 1.3 to 2.4 – for a drunk person it is considered deep intoxication, the feeling of fear is dulled, attention is scattered, vision deteriorates, and a change in the perception of reality occurs.
  3. From 4 to 5 – severe intoxication of the body occurs, breathing is impaired, loss of consciousness occurs, and coma may develop.

At how many ppm are rights deprived?

The law defines 0.35 as the permissible dose of alcohol. It is designed for drivers who take alcohol-containing medications, taking into account the error of the breathalyzer. When converted to specific alcoholic drinks (man, weight 80 kg, measured after an hour), this amounts to:

  • 50 g vodka;
  • 200 g dry red wine;
  • 500 g of beer.

For traffic police officers, a driver with an indicator of 0.2 is considered sober. Upon initial arrest and detection of exceeding the permissible limit, an administrative penalty (financial fine) is imposed and a ban on driving a vehicle is imposed for a period of up to 2 years. The license will be revoked for 3 years and a fine of 50,000 rubles will be imposed if a drunk driver is again found to be exceeding the permissible limit.

At the time of arrest, the offender's alcohol content is determined. Exhaling into a breathalyzer provides this opportunity. The inspector must draw up a protocol and record the established fact. Based on the results of the medical examination, the driver may face confiscation of the vehicle, its temporary confiscation, or deprivation of his license.

Permissible blood alcohol limit in different countries

The permissible blood alcohol level is determined differently in different countries:

  • in Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, a driver is still considered sober only at zero;
  • Albania allows 0.1;
  • in Ukraine, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Poland, the permissible minimum is 0.2;
  • Russia, Moldova – 0.3;
  • Lithuania – 0.4;
  • Belarus, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Greece consider a driver sober with an indicator of 0.5;
  • 0.8 is allowed by the UK, Luxembourg, Malta, and Ireland.

Video: How many ppm are allowed while driving?

Based on the data on the number of ppm, we can conclude about the presence of alcohol intoxication and the degree of intoxication of the body. By ppm, which is denoted as ‰, we mean a thousandth or a tenth of a percent of alcohol in the blood (1 l). This unit of measurement shows the concentration of ethanol in a liter of blood. That is, an alcohol level of 1.2 ‰ means that a liter of blood contains 1.2 ml of ethanol and 998.8 ml of pure blood.

This value demonstrates the mass ratio, which causes a different number of ppm readings when drinking alcohol with different densities.

Estimation of blood alcohol content

When an alcohol-containing liquid enters the body, it passes through the esophagus into the stomach and through its walls into the blood. That is why the maximum concentration of alcohol in the blood reaches its peak half an hour after drinking alcohol.

As for information about the amount of ppm in the blood, it allows you to obtain the following:

  • Have information about the alcohol content in the body at a certain point in time;
  • Calculate the amount of alcohol you can drink to reach or not exceed a certain ppm level;
  • Calculate the time needed for the body to get rid of alcohol.

The last two points are especially relevant for drivers in the Russian Federation, since the law allows you to drive a car without the risk of losing your driver’s license if you have 0.3 ‰ in your blood. As for the permissibility of drinking alcohol by a motorist, everyone decides this question for themselves. Much more relevant for the majority is what a breathalyzer will show when a driver is checked by a traffic police officer. Theoretically, even on the day of the trip, you can allow yourself to drink a little, since ethanol is naturally eliminated by the body. On average, the male body neutralizes 0.15 ‰ per hour, and the female body – 0.12 ‰, but in practice, this value can vary both up and down due to the characteristics of the body, health status, gastric secretion, and medications taken. etc.

Calculation of blood alcohol content

To calculate, you can use our alcohol calculator:

Gender: Stomach fullness:
Alcohol content
(volume%)
Quantity
(10-5000 ml)
Drink 1
Drink 2
Drink 3
Drink 4
Drink 5

To calculate the amount of ethanol in the blood, you must have the following initial data:
  • weight and gender of the individual;
  • percentage of available fluid to total body weight;
  • the amount of ethanol in the consumed volume of alcohol-containing liquid.

On average, the percentage of water in a man's body is 70%, in women this figure is lower - 60%.

Example: a man weighing 80 kg drinks 200 ml of vodka, the alcohol content of which is 40%. To calculate ethanol in the blood, you need to calculate the amount of water in the body, that is, 80 kg * 70% = 56 kg. To determine the mass of ethanol consumed, it is necessary to calculate the amount of alcohol in alcohol: 200ml*40%=80ml. Since the density of ethyl alcohol is 0.79 kg/l, the mass of ethanol will be 63.2 g. Taking into account the 10 percent error in determining the amount of ethanol, we obtain the weight of ethanol equal to 56.88 g.

As a result, the alcohol content in the man’s blood is 63.2/56.88 = 1.11 ‰.

The calculated value takes into account only a few factors, while the actual ethanol content in a person’s blood is affected by a whole list of factors, which is reflected in the breathalyzer reading:

  • quality of alcohol consumed;
  • time of last meal;
  • presence of an allergy or individual reaction to alcohol,
  • the time period during which a person drinks alcohol.

You can assess a person’s condition using the data from the table:

Permille level, ‰ Degrees of intoxication Symptoms
Less than 0.3‰ Sober This level of alcohol in the blood does not exceed the natural level and therefore does not affect the body
0.3-0.5‰ Minor intoxication Minor effect on the body
0.5-1.5‰ Mild degree of intoxication A state of euphoria, good mood, sociability, expressive facial expressions, precision of movement is lost.
1.5-2.0‰ Moderate intoxication Deterioration in mood, aggressiveness, sadness, touchiness, inadequate reaction, slurred speech, impaired coordination.
2.0-3.0‰ Severe intoxication Loss of consciousness, possible coma, epileptic seizures.
3.0-5.0‰ Severe degree of intoxication , coma, possible death
More than 5.0 ‰ Lethal dose Death

How much to drink while driving?

By law, the driver is generally prohibited from taking any drugs or alcohol. As for the permissible level of alcohol content of 0.3 ppm, it is determined by chemical processes occurring in the body - these can be fermentation reactions in the intestines caused by microflora, consumption of overripe fruits, baked goods, kefir or kvass. Also, a small amount of ppm is provided by endogenous alcohol produced by the body. Don’t forget about consuming medications containing alcohol, etc.

However, you can calculate the number of alcoholic beverages, the consumption of which will allow you to remain within the limits:

  1. Half a liter of light beer with a strength of up to 5% - its consumption will increase the ethanol content in the blood by 0.2-0.4 ‰. It is worth noting that such a dose causes a decrease in attention and reaction, so that the driver loses concentration.
  2. A liter of beer provides 0.5-0.8 ‰. In this state, the driver is not able to quickly navigate, keeping his attention on fast-moving objects in changing lighting conditions.
  3. 3 or more bottles of beer will provide 0.8-1.2 ‰ in the blood - this is the ethanol content that is most often found in drunk drivers involved in accidents. This suggests that motorists do not adequately assess their own state when slightly intoxicated. If the alcohol content is above 1.3 ppm, the driver will have an accident in 95 out of 100 cases.

To quickly and accurately determine the amount of ethanol in the blood, breathalyzers are used that evaluate. If you wish, you can buy such a device for private use in order to be sure that the traffic police officer will not have grounds for depriving you of your license for drunk driving.

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Recently, the topic of quantitative ppm content in the driver’s body has become increasingly relevant.
But first, it would be nice to look at the question: 1 ppm - how much?

Each road user, be it a driver, a doctor, or a police inspector, will have his own view of this situation. Where to look for the truth? Let's try to clarify this issue from different angles.

Permille: what is it?

If you look at the interpretation of the concept given in dictionaries, it becomes clear that the unit per mille is a thousandth part of something (including alcohol).

It would seem not so much! But... It must be remembered that alcohol itself, no matter in what dosage it is taken, is aimed at one thing - turning off a person’s consciousness.

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The effects of alcohol on people of different genders occur differently. According to the latest information from research medical and scientific centers, the body of men is 70% liquid, and this figure is 10% less in women. Thus, we can conclude that girls lose reaction and self-control faster.

To avoid mistakes when recording the degree of intoxication, you need to take into account the following personal characteristics of a person:

  • quantity and quality of drinks;
  • type of alcohol (the amount of time required to remove ethanol from the body);
  • age indicator, gender, height, weight;
  • The ratio of the amount drunk to the total weight of a person.

There is a simple system “Translation of indicators as a tenth of the total percentage of liquid,” which looks like this:

  1. 0‰ = 0 = 0%;
  2. 0.16‰ = 0.00016 = 0.016%;
  3. 1‰ = 0.001 = 0.1%;
  4. 200‰ = 0.2 = 20%

Let's try to look at this system using a simple example.

An object- man
Weight— 82 kg
Amount of alcohol consumed– 300 ml vodka (which is approximately 6 glasses)
Ethyl alcohol- 40 percent.

Remembering that the average man consists of 70% liquid, we get 57 kg 400 grams of water. The concentration of ethanol in this case is easy to calculate: 300 * 40 = 120 ml, and in grams 94 (120 * 0.78). It turns out that there are 84.6 grams of ethanol in the bottle. It becomes easy to calculate ppm: 84.6/57.4=1.47.

Stages of intoxication and their manifestations

Science distinguishes four degrees of intoxication, based on the volume of alcohol consumed.

1. Light (1.5-2.5‰)

It is characterized by an overexcited state, partial loss of control, and a negative effect on the psychomotor functions of the entire body (impaired coordination of movements, confusion, increased blood pressure, etc.).

2. Average (1.5-2.5‰)

Characterized by dysfunction of the central nervous system and brain (inappropriate behavior, incoherent speech, loss of self-control, etc.)

This state often ends in sleep. Sometimes upon awakening there is amnesia, decreased performance and severe intoxication of the body.

3. Strong (2.5-3.0‰)

It is characterized by complete loss of consciousness, damage to the central nervous system, and spontaneous bowel movements.

After leaving this state, the severe intoxication state does not go away for several more days, and the concentration of alcohol in the body remains quite high. If the condition recurs, auditory and visual hallucinations are possible.

4. Stage of complete alcohol poisoning (3-5‰)

During the fourth, most severe stage of alcohol intoxication, problems with breathing and heart function appear, the person is in a state close to comatose, and the likelihood of death without medical intervention becomes especially high.

Some experts define other stages of intoxication:

  • The first stage (up to 0.3‰) - there is no effect of alcohol on the body;
  • Second stage (0.3 0.5‰) - minimal influence;
  • The third stage (0.5-1.5‰) - mild degree of impact;
  • Stage four (1.5-2.5%) - average degree;
  • Fifth stage (2.5-3‰) - severe poisoning;
  • Stage six (3-5‰) - comatose state;
  • The seventh stage (5-6‰) is a lethal dose.

Each stage is a certain physical and mental state of a person, which entails deviations in behavior.

Driving a car in any of these conditions is strictly prohibited, since driver behavior is characterized by the following actions:

1. Second stage(0.3 0.5‰). There is no perception of moving objects. Driving speed rapidly increases, as a person needs adrenaline.

2. Third stage(0.5-1.5‰). There is no clear assessment of distance, no reaction to signs or signals. Coordination of actions is impaired.

3. Fourth stage(1.5-2.5‰) Visual reflexes are reduced, the system and organs are in a relaxed state. There is a complete lack of vigilance.

The remaining stages are characterized by a person’s state in which he cannot not only maintain consciousness, but also simply get behind the wheel of a car.

Signs of alcohol intoxication

There are a number of signs indicating that a person is in one stage or another of intoxication:

  • strong smell of fumes or recently drunk drinks;
  • slurred, unintelligible, intermittent speech;
  • sharp, sometimes chaotic movements of the hands and head;
  • partial or complete loss of coordination and other signs.

It would seem that any specialist is able to determine the degree of intoxication by a person’s condition. But what about the following fact? In the recent past, the concept of “zero ppm” was introduced in our country.

But it immediately became clear that the body of some people is capable of producing endogenous alcohol (for example, this occurs in people with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract).

And breathalyzers in the hands of traffic inspectors are not always an accurate device. What should a driver do in this case, since this situation threatens to result in serious problems and fines?

Scientific research comes to the rescue in the form of taking a blood test, which will accurately answer all questions.

Alcohol elimination process

The rate at which alcohol is processed in the body is a rather lengthy process. On average, in men it is up to 0.15‰ per hour, in women this figure does not exceed 0.1 ppm.

In practice, it looks something like this: the alcohol obtained from two glasses of beer disappears after 3 hours. The body will need the same time to process 50 grams of cognac, vodka or other strong drinks.

What is a safe level of alcohol consumption? After drinking 200 g of vodka the day before, you cannot drive a car for another 12 hours.

Lethal dose of alcohol

Until recently, it was believed that 5‰ was a lethal dose for any person. But increasingly, modern drivers, as if trying to break records, surprise inspectors with indicators that exceed the “death dose.”

Doctors themselves are not sure of determining the limits of the maximum dose of alcohol. According to some narcologists, the stage of intoxication begins at 2.0‰, and 5.0-6.0‰ is an unacceptable lethal dose.

What does this look like in practice? There is 200 ml (2.5‰) of pure ethanol in one bottle of vodka (700 ml). We conclude: for a lethal dose, 3-4 bottles drunk within 40-80 minutes are enough.

If you take other alcoholic drinks (wine, liqueur, cognac, beer), then the calculation of the volume will be different, since the alcohol concentration is different.

Weight, height and age, lifestyle and human diseases play a big role in calculating the “lethal dose”. Therefore, we do not advise you to conduct experiments to determine the maximum dose of alcohol.

Finally

To summarize all of the above, I would like to remind you that ppm is an indicator that measures the concentration of alcohol in the human body. Using this unit, experts can easily determine the amount of alcohol consumed. Accordingly, the degree of intoxication is determined, which is extremely important when working with drivers from different countries.

In many European countries, 0.5 ppm is a completely acceptable standard. In Great Britain, for example, the standard of 0.8‰ is officially recognized by the state. In Ukraine, Hungary, the Czech Republic and a number of other countries, drivers are strictly prohibited from drinking alcohol while driving. Each state has the right to establish its own standards of what is acceptable.

There are various types of tables with which the number of ppm is determined. But the best of them is adequate self-esteem of a person getting behind the wheel of a car.

For people who actively use their four-wheeled assistants and who occasionally indulge in drinking, the issue of testing for alcohol by traffic police officers is quite relevant. Especially in connection with the addition to the basic rule on the maximum permitted level of ethyl alcohol. According to ordinary people, if there is a permit, it means that a certain amount of alcohol can be consumed before the trip.

But before determining the volume of alcohol consumed, it is necessary to understand its generally accepted designation, as well as its translation into ppm. After all, this is the unit that appears in official documents. To better understand the situation, a table of ppm and mg l will help, which accurately makes it clear the correspondence of the parameters. But in addition to ready-made data, it is necessary to understand the very essence of such translations.

It is more convenient to determine the level of alcohol in exhaled air

First you need to understand what ppm is. It is known that it has always been easier for people to operate (in the case of a non-integral indicator) with some fractions or exact parts of the whole. For example, third, tithe, quarter, half. But sometimes there is also a need to use indicators that are much less than those indicated. This is how the concept of “percentage” (or one hundredth part of something) once appeared.

If you need to operate with precise and very small measures, it is much more convenient to use a separately created unit.

When it became necessary to measure various additional suspensions dissolved in a liquid, it became inconvenient to use percentages - this measurement turned out to be too large. Then another unit of measurement of the volume of additional fractions in liquids was created - ppm or thousandth. Consequently, the ppm-percentage ratio becomes clear: one percent is equal to 10 ppm, and one ppm is a tenth of a percent.

ppm and alcohol

Doctors armed themselves with this particular unit to calculate the true content of ethyl alcohol in the blood plasma of the subject and successfully use this designation in laboratory tests. But there is also some interesting nuance that concerns gender differences. Despite the fact that the negative effect of ethanol on internal systems follows the same pattern, in the fair sex, due to the characteristics of the body, ppm accumulate much faster than in men.

What is ppm

It is easy to convert ethanol into degrees; for this, the drink under study is compared with pure (undiluted) alcohol. But it is impossible to immediately convert degrees to ppm and vice versa. The point is the difference in concepts:

  1. The degree determines the strength of a particular drink.
  2. Promille indicates the degree of intoxication of the drinking individual.

We calculate ppm ourselves

In principle, the process of calculating something in parts per thousand is almost identical to counting in hundredths (that is, as a percentage). The ppm itself is indicated by the ‰ symbol. This sign is a bit similar to percentage (%). But there is a significant difference between both designations. When designating ppm or determining the concentration of a dose of alcohol in the blood, experts use the following translation:

  • 1‰ = 0.10% = 1/1000.00 = 0.001 (ppm is one thousandth of a whole part);
  • 1,500‰ = 100% - 1.50 (monofraction composition, that is, the complete content of something without additional impurities);
  • 250‰ = 20% = 250/1,000 = 0.25;
  • 450‰ = 40% = 450/1,000 = 0.45;
  • 0.25‰ = 25% = 0.00025;
  • 0.20‰ = 20% = 0.00020.

As you can see, converting percentages to ppm and vice versa is not that difficult, you just need to remember the basic ratios. Considering the difference between % and ‰, it can be noted that it is almost nominal.

It has been established that the highest level of ethanol in the body is observed 30–40 minutes after drinking strong alcohol.

This means that knowing the ppm ratio, you can easily obtain the values ​​needed for calculation. In particular:

  1. The dose of alcohol consumed.
  2. The percentage of ethanol present in the body after a given time.
  3. The time required for complete breakdown of alcohol metabolites.

But in order for the measurement to be applicable for additional calculations, it is necessary to identify some other parameters that affect the resulting result. They are as follows:

  • age;
  • body mass;
  • person's gender;
  • health status;
  • type of alcoholic drink;
  • emotional state of the drinker.

How to calculate ppm using an example

Let's try to calculate how many ppm will be accumulated by an average man weighing 80 kg who drank strong alcohol (vodka, gin, whiskey, cognac) with a strength of 40% and a volume of half a liter. The calculation is performed in the following steps:

  1. Calculate the weight of the liquid. It will be about 56 kg (taking into account that in the male body about 70% is water).
  2. We calculate the dose of pure ethyl alcohol: 500 (volume of alcohol consumed) x 0.4 = 200 ml. In grams it will be: 200 x 0.79 (density of pure alcohol) = 158 g. But the content of pure ethanol in the blood of the drinker (assuming 100% strength) will be as follows: 158 g - 10% = 142.2 g.
  3. Let's sum up the final concentration of alcohol in the blood plasma: 142.2: 56 = 2.54 ‰.

This example proves that if you have the desire, you can easily calculate the ppm level that is present in a drunk person. This is very easy to do; the formulas and all calculations are primitive and easy to understand. But it should be understood and taken into account that the above calculations are of an exclusively conditional type, but not absolute.

The time it takes to remove alcohol from the blood depends on body weight

When calculating ppm, it is worth considering that alcohol is usually not drunk immediately, in one fell swoop. Alcohol is drunk at intervals and breaks.

And over the time that has passed since the first consumption of alcohol, ethanol begins to gradually break down and be eliminated from the body. At the same time, we should not forget about additional nuances that affect the final indicators (weight, health, age, gender, etc.).

Breathalyzer measurement

Now every person has the opportunity to measure their body for the degree of intoxication. For these needs, a specially created device is used that analyzes the air exhaled by a person - a breathalyzer.

Many European countries have already introduced a law requiring every driver to have this device in the car.

So we can confidently assume that, despite all the ease and accuracy of measurement, the detection of ppm in biological fluids is beginning to “lose” its ground. In practice, it turned out to be much more convenient to measure alcohol levels in exhaled air. But a logical question arises: how to convert mg l to ppm, because the breathalyzer indicators are in exactly these parameters.

In 2013, the maximum permissible level of alcohol in a person’s exhaled air was established: 0.16 mg/l. This resolution is still in effect today, although now the penalties for driving while drunk have become noticeably tougher. By the way, trying to find the value of ‰, and even converting ppm to mg l is a mistake.

It is necessary to understand that ppm directly indicates the amount of foreign fractions in biological fluids (blood, saliva, urine). But this definition does not apply to air. But still, this ratio was developed for the convenience of citizens.

Ratio mg/l and ppm

Considering that the maximum permissible alcohol limit is 0.16‰ (or mg of ethanol per 1 dm3 of exhaled air), this means that the maximum permissible ppm level in the air flow is about 0.34‰. It is this indicator that is the limit beyond which a citizen becomes liable for driving while intoxicated.

Auxiliary table

To understand the correspondence between ppm and milligram, you should use the table:

Drunkness level Indicators ppm (in biological fluid) Indicators mg/l (in exhaled air)
normal (biological) alcohol in the human body 0,10 0,045
0,20 0,090
0,30 0,135
mild degree (“drunk”) 0,40 0,180
0,50 0,225
0,60 0,270
0,70 0,315
0,80 0,360
0,90 0,405
initial stage 1,00 0,450
1,10 0,495
1,20 0,540
1,30 0,585
1,40 0,630
1,50 0,675
1,60 0,720
1,70 0,765
1,80 0,810
1,90 0,855
average degree 2,00 0,900
2,10 0,945
2,20 0,990
2,30 1,035
2,40 1,080
2,50 1,125
2,60 1,170
2,70 1,215
2,80 1,260
2,90 1,305
severe stage 3,00 1,350
3,10 1,395
3,20 1,440
3,30 1,485
3,40 1,530
3,50 1,575
3,60 1,620
3,70 1,665
3,80 1,710
3,90 1,755
alcoholic coma from 4.00from 1,800

Stages of intoxication in ppm

Narcologists distinguish several levels of drunkenness, based on the concentration of alcohol in the body. If the first level reveals itself only in minor moments that indicate drunkenness, then the third will correspond to the deadly, last and most complicated stage.

The third degree of intoxication often ends in a coma and death for people.

“Drinking yourself to death” is quite possible; the lethal dose of ethyl alcohol is individual for each person and is calculated as follows:

  1. For adults and strong people: 4–8 g of pure alcohol per kilogram of body.
  2. For weakened and elderly people: 3g of pure ethanol is enough to cause death.

Knowing how ppm is calculated, you can easily calculate this indicator (keep in mind that 10‰ is 1%). The values ​​will be as follows:

  • up to 0.3‰: drunkenness is not detected;
  • 0.3–0.5‰: light, barely noticeable “drinking”;
  • 0.5–1.5‰: initial stage (mild intoxication);
  • 1.5–2.5‰: medium level (moderate intoxication);
  • 2.5–3.0‰: third stage (high degree of intoxication);
  • 3.0–5.0‰: alcoholic coma, refers to an extremely severe stage;
  • 5.0–6.0‰: lethal dose of ethyl alcohol leading to death.

Permille and driving: dangerous consequences

Owners of their own cars are interested in how much they are allowed to drink so as not to be branded as drunk and breaking the law. Of course, all adults and adequate individuals understand that only a sober person will be an ideal driver. But all sorts of situations happen in life, so this topic will always remain vital.

To do this, it is worth finding out how alcohol changes behavioral reactions and how much they vary depending on the degree of drunkenness. To have a clear example, it is worth considering and studying the following table, which clearly shows the degree of drunkenness and changes in behavioral reactions:

Alcohol level (in ppm) Driver reactions
0,2–0,5 the person is not able to adequately assess and capture moving light sources, an adequate assessment of the current situation slows down, there is a need to increase speed, responsibility and caution disappear, and a safe interval is not observed
0,5–0,8 the opportunity to actually estimate the distances to the nearest objects disappears, which provokes global errors in the control of equipment; there is an incorrect perception of lighting, traffic lights, and the distance to other road users
0,8–1,2 this degree has an extremely relaxing effect on the driver, his reaction sharply drops, the angle of view changes to a smaller direction, all actions are weak and almost always incorrect, the ability to concentrate disappears
1,2–2,4 This ppm level will not only no longer allow a person to adequately control a car, but also generally allow a person to remain in a clear awareness of those around him; the drinker’s vision is significantly impaired, gross distortions in orientation and perception of reality appear

conclusions

Of course, the ideal option is complete sobriety of the driver.. Only in this case the possibility of an accident will be reduced to a minimum. This is always worth remembering, especially when the question arises about traveling somewhere after a stormy holiday. It is not worth risking yourself and other lives. Remember that even if the ppm “fits” within the acceptable limit, it is still better to play it safe and stay in the car only as a passenger.

Almost every drinker and not only people have a question: what dose of alcohol will be fatal? It's no secret that alcohol is a poison for our body; in moderation, it causes the intoxication we desire, but if you overdo it too much, death is possible.

The lethal dose of alcohol for a person depends on many factors: age, gender, weight, the presence of heart disease, liver disease, gastrointestinal tract, etc. If we talk about average values, then according to the conclusions of scientists, a blood level of 5 or more ppm will be lethal for the human body.

Permille is one thousandth of one substance in another. For example, 1 ppm of alcohol means that a liter of human blood contains 1 ml of pure alcohol, which is stronger than medical alcohol.

In simple terms, drinking 100 ml of vodka will increase the level of alcohol in your blood to 0.5 ppm, the corresponding one bottle of vodka is equal to 2.5 ppm, and only if you drink it all at once, because if you drink gradually, then by the time When the last glass is drunk, the first one will have time to be neutralized by liver enzymes.

In theory In order to increase the concentration of alcohol in the blood to a lethal dose, over 5-6 ppm, a person needs to drink about 3 bottles of vodka in just one hour and without vomiting. That is, as you understand, the task is hardly feasible even with all our desire, because our body also does not know how to protect itself.

If we talk about beer, wine and other low-alcohol drinks in which the alcohol content is low. That mark of five ppm is practically unattainable; for this, within an hour you need to drink about 15 liters of beer with a strength of at least 4 degrees.

Despite the fact that it is quite difficult to reach the 5 ppm mark, this does not mean that now you can drink without particularly worrying about your life, because all this is very individual and for some 3 ppm, or even less, can be fatal. Alcohol affects young and old people more than others. Much also depends on the efficiency of the liver and cardiovascular system of the drinker. In any case, drinking a large amount of vodka will not lead to anything good, death is of course unlikely, but the harm to the body will be very strong, and it will not take long to happen.

If we are not talking about a single lethal dose, but in general, about mortality in one way or another associated with drinking alcohol, then according to the World Health Organization it is 6.3% for men and 1.1% for women. But these are worldwide statistics; if we take into account only Eastern Europe, which includes you and me, the numbers are simply shocking. According to data collected between 1990 and 2001, almost every second man aged 15 to 54 years died from alcohol abuse. As a result, life expectancy rates have deteriorated significantly in Russia and the countries of the former USSR. Between 2000 and 2007, the average life expectancy of a Russian man was 59 years, while in the UK it was 76 years.