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Making chloroform so I can sleep better at night [video]
- 35mm 4y agoValerian tea might be a safer alternative.
- gus_massa 4y agoThe author is Chemdelic. I was expecting a video by Nile Red, but I was not disappointed. (As the video explain, don't try this at home unless you have a degree in Chemistry or something. That invisible fumes looks nasty.)
- O__________O 4y agoAgree, surprised there are not more warnings on the video, especially given the video’s title. As a comparison, here’s NileRed’s version: https://youtube.com/watch?v=j-PrAczOGb0 https://youtube.com/watch?v=j-PrAczOGb0
- gus_massa 4y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L23akTkDqTM&t=79s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L23akTkDqTM&t=79s :)
- petre 4y agoDefinitely do not try this at home without a Chemistry degree. Why? It's easy to accidentaly produce phosgene (WWI chemical weapon, smells like freshly cut grass) by combining chloroform fumes and oxygen under UV light or chlorine with carbon monoxide from a gas burner (yellow flame).
- kortex 4y agoActual chemist here: it's actually pretty hard to accidentally produce phosgene via chloroform. Obviously don't deliberately try to oxidize chloroform in an unventilated space, but you should be fine in a fume cupboard with basic science hygiene. Don't attempt this without an understanding of general lab/workshop hygiene (ALWAYS wear glasses, gloves, labcoat or smock, no polyester, use proper ventilation, put hair back). But this is a pretty basic beginner chemistry experiment.
- ok_computer 4y agoEven doing this with a chemistry background is incredibly irresponsible. There’s more than personal know how at work in industrial and academic labs. Fume hood stacks well above grade and incinerators and permits or registration. Plus the waste disposal issue and byproducts. This brand of youtube entertainment is super bad. Same thing with people extracting mercury or whatever. Like what is the best end case: you’ve done bench work in your neighborhood and are a point emitter of byproducts and create a product that have no real end use. Chlorinated solvents are no joke and making a carcinogen for youtube views is beyond dumb. I’d call the cops if I saw my neighbor doing some home cooking like this it’s not well thought out and just selfish and irresponsible.
- girvo 4y ago> Chlorinated solvents are no joke I mean, you're right, but I can also literally walk down to Bunnings and buy some, so I'm not sure these YouTubers are really tipping the scales.
- ok_computer 4y agoI'm not offended by the volume he's producing, just the act of doing low value chemistry work at home making something gross, it will get repeated by less capable viewers in uncontrolled environments. On the other hand, I always thought things like anarchist cookbook and erowid type stuff is great for knowledge sharing. I don't think there should be a monopoly on knowing how to do stuff but this is different, maybe the youtube viewership monetization, I cannot place my finger on it. I'm saying this is a dumb synthesis to show off, there is no value in the product, if anything it is a disposal liability, and it's in a home lab. One mistake and you get a chlorine cloud or an organic solvent spill in a residential setting. It glorifies understanding where the electrons or protons jump but its super basic. Like how hungry for validation do you need to be to show off your recent degree or internet recipe scavenging. Solvents are commoditized. Chlorinated solvents need to be phased out. Whereas, in industrial settings that are vilified for justifiable reasons there is increasing scrutiny on any solvents introduction to processes especially chlorinated types for good reason. I'm saying it's a dumb thing to do and totally misses the mark for educational videos. That guy who makes chips in his garage with nasty etch gasses, high voltage magnatrons, photoresist, and projector litho I'll admit is really cool and impressive but may pose a greater neighbor threat if a mishap happens.
- pazimzadeh 4y agocan't you just mix bleach with ethanol?
- gus_massa 4y agoYou should ask a real Chemistry [1], but in case there is none nearby Organic reactions are a mess, and there are a lot of side reactions. My guess is that mixing ethanol and bleach produce a mix of chloroform and other stuff. Ethanol is H H | | H-C-C-O-H | | H H and my guess is that the mix has a lot of the thing you get replacing the lash Hydrogen with Chloride H H | | H-C-C-O-Cl | | H H Acetone has no -O-H so you probably don't get too much stuff like that. [1] I only have a specialization in Chemistry Secondary School, it's somewhat similar to 1 or 2 years of a Chemistry Major (of 5 years). I know enough to understand the explanation in the video, but not enough to write them. [I've used similar equipment for other experiments a long time ago. For example, the connector to the water at the top of the condenser, should it be pointing up instead of pointing to one side?]
- kortex 4y agoI'm a bit rusty (worked as a chemist 2011-2015 before going into compsci) but I believe that this reaction produces some chloroform (enough that you should not mix ethanol and bleach inadvertently), but mostly as a side-reaction. The main reaction will be oxidation to acetaldehyde and then acetate. But it's slow, you probably get a bunch of side-reactions, etc. Acetone is a facile haloform reagent because the carbonyl acidifies ("loosens") the alpha hydrogen which allows the chlorine to attack the carbon.
- ravenstine 4y agoI decided to open the Wikipedia page for Chloroform while this video played and thought it was interesting that the idea that criminals can immediately knock someone out with a chloroform soaked rag is really a work of fiction. Not that it couldn't be done, but that it would probably take minutes and not just a few seconds.
- O__________O 4y agoNot to mention health risks related to chloroform: https://dhss.delaware.gov/dph/files/chloroformfaq.pdf https://dhss.delaware.gov/dph/files/chloroformfaq.pdf
- fuzzfactor 4y agoIt used to be a minor ingredient in some brands of well-advertised toothpaste. Had a taste like no other.
- yreg 4y agoThere is a reason why anesthesiologists are paid well. Knocking someone out safely is not a joke. (Not only in US where everything health-related involves big money, but also in the countries which underpay other healthcare professionals.)
- whoomp12342 4y ago[flagged]
- adamsmith143 4y agoUndergrad in our lab was working after hours and once dropped an entire jug of choloroform which promptly exploded on the floor. He shat a brick and ran out of the building. Fire Department and Hazmat cleanup crews both showed up and shut down the entire building.
- cinntaile 4y agoDon't you usually only take what you need such that accidents like these can't happen?
- l33t233372 4y agoPresumably you take what you need from a larger container that can be dropped.
- Octokiddie 4y agoIt's worth noting that the general class of reaction described here ("Haloform reaction") was discovered in 1822, and rediscovered after that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haloform_reaction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haloform_reaction Organic chemistry is a very old field whose older literature can still be used and remains relevant today. Also, inhaling anything you produce in a lab, even if you did distill it, is idiotic.
- fragmede 4y agoEven if you're Albert Hofmann or Alexander "Sasha" Shulgin?
- bhickey 4y agoMy freshman advisor was a famous[1] organic chemist. He told me that he would do isolate THC, then elongate its carbon tail to induce a more powerful, longer lasting high. When I asked him, he responded that he had no concerns about his ability to make a pure reaction product. [1] Famous within organic chemistry circles.
- BeriWan 4y ago[flagged]
- labrador 4y agoI'm a recovering nitrous oxide addict so this is interesting, but people should proceed with caution. I didn't know laughing gas could be addictive for some people until it was too late. In the film Cider House Rules, Michael Caine plays a doctor addicted to ether for sleep https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cider_House_Rules_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cider_House_Rules_(film) Google result: Is chloroform stronger than ether? Fluothane and chloroform produced similar anesthesia, and was 4 1/2 times more potent than ether.
- hattmall 4y agoSo like how much nitrous did you do?
- labrador 4y agoLet's see there's 50 whippets in a box, 12 boxes in a case. I did a couple hundred cases before I finally stopped. My last two binges 5 years apart were 15 cases over a 2 week period and 20 cases over a 10 day period. Once I start cracking whippets I can't stop. It felt almost like an OCD thing.
- mahathu 4y agoProbably it would be more efficient to fill up balloons from a larger tank and then inhaling from the balloons. You can continuously breathe in and out from the same balloon multiple times for a few times until all the N2O has been absorbed by the body (hypothetically)
- labrador 4y agoI cracked the whippets into a large plastic bag and then inhaled from that. I stuck with whippets because it was the fail safe option.
- skulk 4y agoMy buddy and I used to crack whippets with a knife and frantically try to put the neck into a balloon with.... mixed results. The idea of using a plastic bag never occurred to us!
- xkcd-sucks 4y agoChloroform is great for extractions (if you don't care about the environment) because it sinks to the bottom of a sep funnel, but the thing about it being a knockout gas or sleep aid is complete BS. Based on an unpublished study of about 4 degenerate chemistry undergrads: - It PROBABLY takes several minutes of inhalation through a saturated rag to induce full loss of consciousness, although shorter times do produce noticeable wooziness - However, full unconsciousness was not achieved in any subject because chloroform tasted too Totally Gross to continue past a minute or so (choking sickly-sweet) - Subjective effects wore off within a few minutes, however the gross flavor persisted for several hours afterword much longer as residual chloroform washed out (along with mild headaches) - Ingestion was not investigated. So, in order to incapacitate someone you would have to force them to do really unpleasant for a long time, in which case you might as well choke them out, and the victim would regain consciousness quickly. And as a sleep aid it would likely need to be ingested, would induce sleep but not maintain it (i.e. wake up shortly), and would leave the user reeking of gross chloroform for long after. Join us for our continued lecture series, covering topics such as: - Why microwave assisted reactions in DMSO are a bad idea - Why attempting GHB synthesis via permanganate oxidation of THF is a bad idea - Harm reduction re: consumption of USP 99.9% ethanol - How peroxyacid syntheses of various things do not scale up well and how they absolutely should not be coerced into running more quickly - The poor efficacy of DMSO in assisting drug translocation through skin
- isk517 4y agoExcuse me sir, but are you implying that in 1993 at WrestleMania 9 when Giant Gonzalez knocked out the Undertaker using a chloroform soaked rag that it was all fake? If so then mister, I think you are full of crap. /s
- jdlyga 4y agoMake sure you open an incognito window before clicking on this, or your YouTube recommendations will look weird for a bit
- optimalsolver 4y ago[flagged]
- anthk 4y agoJust take a single melatonine pill. They're usually safe.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- bradwood 4y agoAnd his favourite pick-up line? > Would you like to see the back of my van?
- cwkoss 4y agoIs there a youtube channel all about how chemical waste is neutralized for disposal? What happens to the tub of very basic water and maybe some bleach? Just pour down the drain? What pHs are safe to pour down the drain? How is more complex waste, like containing pharmacological products or heavy metals, neutralized and disposed?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- scheme271 4y agoIt all really depends. For liquid wastes, you probably want to get it close to neutral so that it doesn't mess up your plumbing if you pour it down the drain. For any complex organic or any inorganic stuff, you probably want to capture it and then send it to a chemical disposal facility.
- frakt0x90 4y agoNileBlue (NileRed's second channel) has a view videos on cleanup of various substances. https://www.youtube.com/@NileBlue/videos https://www.youtube.com/@NileBlue/videos
- tiku 4y agoMy history on YouTube is suddenly very slow to load and not working correctly after watching this video..
- Eleison23 4y ago[dead]
- pstuart 4y agoMy shrink used to prescribe me chloral hydrate and it was great. Unfortunately it was banned because of mistakes made by dentists in improper use. I've long advocated for legalizing illicit drugs but stuff like this should also be of the individuals discretion. Apparently simple to synthesize but I'm not sure I'm up for that. Edit: Erowid FTW: https://erowid.org/archive/rhodium/chemistry/chloralhydrate.html https://erowid.org/archive/rhodium/chemistry/chloralhydrate....
- anm89 4y agoAnother good home lab chemistry youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq7a5_tvBPM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq7a5_tvBPM
- poulpy123 4y agoI take advantage of this post to ask if there is any good youtube channel/website/books for chemistry experiments at home (so reasonably safe and without the need of a full lab)