What does Chloroform do?

Answers:
it knocks u out.

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Chloroform, also known as trichloromethane and methyl trichloride, is a chemical compound with formula CHCl3. It does not support combustion in air, although it will burn when mixed with more flammable substances. It is a member of a subset of environmental pollutants known as trihalomethanes, a by-product of chlorination of drinking water and a long-standing health concern.

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knocks out living beings and animals.

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Anesthetic agent of the past. No longer used to the best of my knowledge except maybe poor countries, I'm not sure.

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In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, chloroform was used as an inhaled anesthetic during surgery. However, safer, more flexible drugs have entirely replaced it in this role. The major use of chloroform today is in the production of the freon refrigerant R-22. However, as the Montreal Protocol takes effect, this use can be expected to decline as R-22 is replaced by refrigerants that are less liable to result in ozone depletion.Smaller amounts of chloroform are used as a solvent in the pharmaceutical industry, and for producing dyes and pesticides. As a solvent it can be used to bond pieces of acrylic glass (which is also known under the trade name 'Perspex'). Chloroform is one of the most effective known solvents for alkaloids in base form, and may be used to extract nitrogenous chemicals from plant material for pharmaceutical processing. It is commercially used to extract morphine from poppies, scopolamine from Datura plants, and so on.Chloroform reacts with aqueous sodium hydroxide (preferably in the presence of a phase transfer catalyst) to produce dichlorocarbene. This is used to effect ortho-formylation of activated aromatic rings such as phenols, producing aryl aldehydes in a reaction known as the Reimer-Tiemann reaction. Alternatively the carbene may be trapped by an alkene to form a cyclopropane derivative.Chloroform containing deuterium (heavy hydrogen), CDCl3, is the most common solvent used in NMR spectroscopy.As might be expected from its use as an anesthetic, inhaling chloroform vapors depresses the central nervous system. Breathing about 900 parts of chloroform per million parts air (900 parts per million) for a short time can cause dizziness, fatigue, and headache. Chronic chloroform exposure may cause damage to the liver (where chloroform is metabolized to phosgene) and to the kidneys, and some people develop sores when the skin is immersed in chloroform. Approximately 10% of the population has an allergic reaction to chloroform that produces a fever of around 40掳C (104掳F) upon exposure.Animal studies have shown that miscarriages occur in rats and mice that have breathed air containing 30 to 300 ppm chloroform during pregnancy and also in rats that have ingested chloroform during pregnancy. Offspring of rats and mice that breathed chloroform during pregnancy have a higher incidence of birth defects, and abnormal sperm have been found in male mice that have breathed air containing 400 ppm chloroform for a few days
A chloroform-soaked handkerchief is often used as a fictional device to render someone unconscious. In reality, a dose far greater than a few drops inhaled over a short period of time would be required to knock somebody out. Such a dose could also be lethal.

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It kills butterflies so you can pin them to boards. I read that in the musem. I think it's cruel.

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In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, chloroform was used as an inhaled anesthetic during surgery. However, safer, more flexible drugs have entirely replaced it in this role. The major use of chloroform today is in the production of the freon refrigerant R-22. However, as the Montreal Protocol takes effect, this use can be expected to decline as R-22 is replaced by refrigerants that are less liable to result in ozone depletion.Smaller amounts of chloroform are used as a solvent in the pharmaceutical industry, and for producing dyes and pesticides. As a solvent it can be used to bond pieces of acrylic glass (which is also known under the trade name 'Perspex'). Chloroform is one of the most effective known solvents for alkaloids in base form, and may be used to extract nitrogenous chemicals from plant material for pharmaceutical processing. It is commercially used to extract morphine from poppies, scopolamine from Datura plants, and so on.Chloroform reacts with aqueous sodium hydroxide (preferably in the presence of a phase transfer catalyst) to produce dichlorocarbene. This is used to effect ortho-formylation of activated aromatic rings such as phenols, producing aryl aldehydes in a reaction known as the Reimer-Tiemann reaction. Alternatively the carbene may be trapped by an alkene to form a cyclopropane derivative.Chloroform containing deuterium (heavy hydrogen), CDCl3, is the most common solvent used in NMR spectroscopy.

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Chloroform [Chem.] CHCl3, an uncoloured very volatile liquid of great weight with a strong special smell, used medically as an anaesthetic and in industry as a solvent of fats, oils, rubber, and other substances.
Although Chloroform is a quick and a powerful anesthestic drug that can be very conveniently given by inhalation. In small doses by mouth, it is an effective pain killer and antispasmodic drug; applied to the skin, it is a counterirritant, sometimes used as liniment in treating rheumatism. Chloroform has gone out of favor since the discovery that even small doses of it may seriously damage the liver and exert a harmful effect upon the heart. The strong etherlike odor of this liquid was once the common source of a characteristic "hospital smell"

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