Effects of Consuming Ethanol on Body Temperature - Research Paper Example

The methodology to be used is controlled experimentation on animals such as rats where they will be subjected to a small amount of ethanol and tests conducted to determine the changes in body temperature. The discussion over the results and the effects of ethanol from the experiment will come up followed by the final results and the conclusion. The effects of Ethanol on Body temperature Introduction Ethanol is a psychoactive drug that has been used as a recreational drug for a very long time in the history of man.

It is a volatile and flammable colorless liquid that is the basic component of spirits and alcoholic drinks that people consume. Ethanol causes intoxication when consumed and is commonly referred to as alcohol, pure alcohol, spirit or drinking alcohol. Its scientific formula is CH3CH2OH, usually abbreviated as C2H3OH or simply C2H6O (Ligon, 2001). Apart from being used as a recreational drug, ethanol is also used as a solvent in thermometers as well as being used as fuel. It is also used for medical purposes as an antiseptic and as treatment for poisoning from other types of alcohol (Ligon, 2001).

Consumption of ethanol has a wide range of effects on the human body. Ethanol I s regarded as a depressant of the Central Nervous System and has a wide range of side effects on the individual consuming alcohol (Ligon, 2001). Some of the effects are short term while others are long term effects. Once the alcohol is in the body, it can easily diffuse to almost all biological tissues because the cell membranes are highly permeable to ethanol (Grant, and Macdonald, 2005). Alcohol is also highly addictive.

This essay will seek to study the effect that alcohol or ethanol has on body temperature, following its use in rescue missions by the St. Bernard’s dogs in cold mountains. Methods To investigate the effect of ethanol on body temperature, it is important to conduct experiments in order to scientifically understand the consequences of alcohol a good experiment can be conducted using animals such as rats. First fix thermistors in the colons of the rats to determine their body temperature once they are stabilized.

Use about 2.0 grams per kilogram or 4.0 grams per kilogram of ethanol for the experiment. Give the animals a constant dosage of 20% ethanol concentration. The concentration can also be determined by comparing it to the weight of the animals. Expose the animals to different temperatures both below and above the room temperature that was used for the experiment. Discussion When of ethanol is consumed, about 20% of it goes in to the stomach, while the other 80% is usually absorbed in the small intestines (Chastain, 2006).

The alcohol first has an illusory effect on the body where one thinks that their body is warm immediately after consuming alcohol. This is because the flow of blood in the body creates some warmth on the skin and on the nerve endings. The sensory nerves then convey messages of warmth to the brain. Alcohol produces dilatation or relaxation of blood vessels that ramify through an individual’s skin. The dilation occurs as a result of the alcohol causing slight paralysis of the nerves that control the size of blood vessels (Grant, and Macdonald, 2005).

This makes the blood vessels to distend a little bit. As a result of this, the body temperature goes down. As a result, more blood will reach the body surface thus radiating or conducting more heat away. Results After the experiment, it was discovered that alcohol acts like any