Marvellous moonshine detector

By David Bradley2010-07-01T00:00:00

Pouring out a measure of alcohol into a shot glass

Source: Thinkstock

Chemists use infrared sensors to catch the cheats

A new portable device that uses infrared technology to identify the components of a sample could help law enforcement and regulators find adulterated alcoholic drinks or illicit products with levels of ethanol above those allowed by law for particular drinks.

Nineteenth century French chemist and physicist, Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac developed a technique for measuring the alcoholic strength by volume (per cent vol) which is, in one form or another, still in use today. The latter are based on densimetric measurements that compare the measured density of the alcohol and work out the relative proportions of the ethanol and water it contains.

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