Answer to Question #12025 in Inorganic Chemistry for Portia Powell

Question

A 40-year-old manager, at a prominent legal firm in L.A., experiences abdominal pain post lunch. He goes to the restroom a couple of times, but continues to experience pain and cramps. He eventually decides to get himself examined. While questioning him, you learn that he consumed two bottles of beer at lunch. The alcohol (ethyl alcohol/ethanol) content in a 12 oz. bottle of beer is about 5%. The man's weight is 150 lbs and he was drinking over an hour period.

• Calculated the percentage of alcohol in the patient's body.

• State the chemical reaction that took place in the patient's body.

• Identify the substance produced in the liver that helps catalyze this reaction.