my science teacher says its dark red but i swear its blue !?!
please help
2007-03-24 03:13:42 · 34 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
without oxygen, our blood wil be dark red..
'Whole blood is not blue. It is either bright red (with oxygen) or dark red
(without oxygen). Skin pigments and blood vessel coverings often make the
blood seem bluish when looking at vessels on the skin.'
2007-03-24 03:17:27 · answer #1 · answered by fizadora 5 · 6⤊ 0⤋
In humans and other hemoglobin-using creatures, oxygenated blood is bright red. This is due to oxygenated iron in the red blood cells. Deoxygenated blood is a darker shade of red, which can be seen during blood donation and when venous blood samples are taken. However, due to an optical effect caused by the way in which light penetrates through the skin, veins typically appear blue in colour. This has led to a common misconception that venous blood is blue before it is exposed to air. Another reason for this misconception is that medical charts always show venous blood as blue in order to distinguish it from arterial blood which is depicted as red on the same chart.
2007-03-24 03:23:41 · answer #2 · answered by k.t.400 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
In humans and other hemoglobin-using creatures, oxygenated blood is a bright red in color. Deoxygenated blood is a darker shade of red, which can be seen during blood donation and when venous blood samples are taken. However, due to an optical effect caused by the way in which light penetrates through the skin, veins typically appear blue in color. This has led to a common misconception that before venous blood is exposed to air it is blue
2007-03-24 04:26:20 · answer #3 · answered by j a 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, it's not blue. It is indeed dark red.
The colour blue is used in diagrams etc to clearly define where the deoxygenated blood is within the circulatory system. It doesn't just turn blue once it's reached it's destination and is time to come back.
You see blood as red due to haemoglobin, it has nothing to do with the oxygen (the oxygen level merely defines what shade of red).
2007-03-24 03:32:36 · answer #4 · answered by K S 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
blood with oxygen is bright red in colour.
blood without oxygen is dark red with a slightly purplish tinge. Its not blue, really. Remember how dried blood looks like!
2007-03-26 23:49:05 · answer #5 · answered by Eevaya 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When blood is oxygenated it is a bright red colour. when the blood is deoxygenated it is dark/deep red colour. Blood is always red whether in your body or outside your body. It is only shown as blue in books to differentiate between arterial and venous blood.
2007-03-27 11:56:05 · answer #6 · answered by scat201 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
koalabear, your body already contains oxygen to begin with. The blue color we so often see is just a medical and scientific distinction between oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor blood. By far, the ONLY animal that has actual blue blood are horseshoe crabs, but this is due to a concentration of some chemical or protein.
2007-03-24 05:57:24 · answer #7 · answered by Ole S. 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's not blue. Blue is used in scientific books so you can differenciate deoxygenated blood streams from oxygenated bloodstreams, but many people have taken it quite literally. =(
Also, though your veins may seem blue, they're actually not. They only appear that way because you're seeing them through skin. If you pull your skin to the side a bit near a vein on your wrist so you can see the vein better, you can see that it's dark red.
2007-03-24 03:23:00 · answer #8 · answered by Koko 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Blood is bright red until it rich in oxygen and then it is dark red.
2007-03-24 03:31:55 · answer #9 · answered by Heather G 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The color of deoxygenated blood is dark red. Actually oxygen is not what gives the color to the blood, it is a protein called hemoglobin. That's what gives blood its color and whether oxygen is bound to hemoglobin or not it shouldn't change the color of blood that much.
2007-03-24 05:39:21 · answer #10 · answered by Mariena S 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋