What gives the red color to blood. Causes of light or scarlet blood during menstruation Red color gives blood pigment

Science knows that in different living organisms on the planet, the blood has a different shade.

However, in humans it is red. Why is the blood red - both children and adults ask this question.

The answer is quite simple: the red color is due to hemoglobin, which contains iron atoms in its structure.

Red blood is made by hemoglobin, which consists of:

1. From a protein called globin;
2. The non-protein element heme, which contains the ferrous ion.

It was possible to find out what gives the red color, but its elements turn out to be no less interesting. What elements give it such a color is an equally interesting aspect.

In the blood:

1. Plasma. The liquid is light yellow in color, with its help the cells in its composition can move. It consists of 90 percent water, and the remaining 10 percent are organic and inorganic components. Plasma also contains vitamins and microelements. Light yellow liquid contains many useful substances.
2. Formed elements are blood cells. There are three types of cells: leukocytes, platelets and erythrocytes. Each type of cell has certain functions and features.

These are white bodies that protect the human body. They protect it from internal diseases and foreign microorganisms penetrating from outside.

This is a white item. Its white hue is impossible not to notice during laboratory research, therefore, such cells are determined quite simply.

Leukocytes recognize foreign cells that can cause harm and destroy them.

These are very small colored plates, whose main function- folding.

It is these cells that are responsible for making the blood:

• Coagulated, did not flow out of the body;
• Curling rather quickly on the surface of the wound.

More than 90 percent of these cells in the blood. It is also red because erythrocytes have such a shade.

They carry oxygen from the lungs to peripheral tissues, are continuously produced in bone marrow. They live for about four months, then are destroyed in the liver and spleen.

It is very important for erythrocytes to bring oxygen to various tissues of the human body.

Few people know that immature erythrocytes are blue in color, then they acquire a gray tint and only after that they turn red.

There are a lot of human erythrocytes, which is why oxygen reaches the peripheral tissues so quickly.

It is difficult to say which element is more important. Each of them has an important function that affects human health.

Children often ask questions about the components of the human body. Blood is one of the most popular topics for discussion.

Explanations for children should be extremely simple, but at the same time informative. Blood contains many substances that differ in function.

Consists of plasma and special cells:

1. Plasma is a liquid that contains useful substances. It has a light yellow tint.
2. The formed elements are erythrocytes, leukocytes and platelets.

The presence of red cells - erythrocytes and explains its color. Erythrocytes are red in nature, and their accumulation leads to the fact that a person’s blood is of exactly this color.

There are about thirty-five billion red cells that move through the human body in the blood vessels.

Why are veins blue

Veins carry maroon blood. They are red, like the color of the blood that flows through them, but not blue at all. The veins only appear blue.

This can be explained by the law of physics about the reflection of light and perception:

When a beam of light hits the body, the skin reflects some of the waves and looks bright. However, it misses the blue spectrum much worse.

Blood itself absorbs light of all wavelengths. Skin gives for visibility blue color and the vein is red.

The human brain compares the color of a blood vessel against warm tone skin, resulting in blue.

Blood of a different color in different living beings

Not all living organisms have red blood.

The protein that gives this color in humans is hemoglobin contained in hemoglobin. Other living beings have different fat-containing proteins instead of hemoglobin.

The most common shades besides red are:

1. Blue. Crustaceans, spiders, mollusks, octopuses and squids can boast of this color. And blue blood is of great importance for these creatures, as it is filled with important elements. Instead of hemoglobin, it contains hemocyanin, which contains copper.
2. Violet. This color is found in marine invertebrates and some molluscs. Usually such blood is not only purple, but also slightly pink. Color pink blood in young invertebrates. In this case, the protein is hemerythrin.
3. Green. Found in annelids and leeches. Protein - chlorocruorin, close to hemoglobin. However, iron in this case is not oxide, but ferrous.

The color of blood differs depending on the protein it contains. Whatever the color of the blood, it has a huge amount of nutrients needed by a living organism. Pigment for each organism is important, despite its diversity.

Video - Secrets and mysteries of our blood

Does blood have to be red? Why shouldn't she, for example, be green or blue, or, in general, as in the movie "Predator" does not glow in the dark? Do you remember the colorless blood-acid of Alien? Ilu the "blue blood" of Russian nobles? Isn't it cool? So, let's try to figure out what causes the color of blood:

All people have red blood. Color, as you know, gives it hemoglobin, which is the main component of the erythrocyte, filling it by 1/3. It is formed as a result of the interaction of the globin protein with four iron atoms and a number of other elements. It is thanks to oxide iron (Fe 2+) that hemoglobin acquires red Colour. In all vertebrates, in some species of insects and mollusks, iron oxide is present in the blood protein, and therefore their blood has a scarlet color.

But it turns out that it is not at all necessary to be red for blood. Some animals have a completely different color of blood. For example, in some invertebrates, oxygen is carried not by hemoglobin, but by another iron-containing protein - hemerythrin or chlorocruorin.

Hemerythrin, which is the respiratory pigment in the blood of brachiopods, contains five times more iron than hemoglobin. Oxygenated hemerythrin gives blood Violet shade, and giving oxygen to the tissues, such blood becomes pink. Hemerythrin is localized in cells, which, unlike ordinary erythrocytes, are called pink blood cells.

But, in polychaete worms, the respiratory pigment is another iron-containing protein - chlorocruorin dissolved in blood plasma. Chlorocruorin is close to hemoglobin, but its basis is not oxide iron, but ferrous oxide, which gives blood and tissue fluid green Colour.

However, these options are not limited to nature. The transfer of oxygen and carbon dioxide, it turns out, may well be carried out by respiratory pigments based on ions of other (besides iron) metals.

For example, sea squirts have blood colorless, since it is based on hemovanadium containing vanadium ions.

Do you remember our nobles with blue blood? It turns out that this happens in nature, but the truth is only in octopuses, octopuses, spiders, crabs and scorpions. The reason for such a noble color lies in the fact that their respiratory blood pigment is not hemoglobin, but hemocyanin, in which copper (Cu 2+) is present instead of iron. Combining with atmospheric oxygen, hemocyanin turns blue, and, giving oxygen to tissues, it becomes somewhat discolored. As a result of this, in these animals in the arteries flows blue blood, and blue in the veins. If hemoglobin is usually found both in plasma and in blood cells (most often in erythrocytes), then hemocyanin is simply dissolved in blood plasma. It is interesting that there are organisms, for example, some molluscs, in which hemoglobin and hemocyanin can be present simultaneously, and in some cases one of them acts as an oxygen carrier in the blood, and the other in the tissues.

By the way, there are still cases when people turned out to have blue blood. True, not at all among the nobles. One such case was once published by the Trud newspaper (dated March 17, 1992):

“The Severodvinsk resident Mikheev decided to donate blood out of noble motives, as well as to receive a discount coupon for lunch. He passed it. The doctors looked at her and gasped: the blood turned out to be of a strange bluish color. unusual color caused by functional changes in the liver. And these changes are associated with Mikheev's habit of using alcohol-containing liquids of ignoble, let's say, origin. For example... stain.... Who knows, maybe our kings with blue blood also did not disdain stain... ;-)

Well, and finally, a plate where all this completely useless knowledge about the color of blood is brought together:

P.S. By the way, what made me interested in this stupid question about the color of blood ... The fact is that on last week I enjoyed myself with kpblca wrote a fantasy story. The beginning, but the unfinished "story" itself. By the way, maybe there will be those who wish and add a sequel to it ...

Update (14-June-2003): The story would be incomplete if, having told about red, green, blue, blue and purple blood, I would not have mentioned the blood of yellow and orange flowers which is often found in insects.

The reason I forgot about this blood is because I was looking for information about respiratory pigments, and in insects, the blood (or rather, the hemolymph) is just devoid of these pigments and does not participate in the transport of oxygen at all. Breathing in insects is carried out with the help of trachea - branching tubes that directly connect cells internal organs with air environment. The air inside the tracheal tube is still. There is no forced ventilation there, and the inflow of oxygen into the body (as well as the outflow of carbon dioxide) occurs due to diffusion with a difference in the partial pressures of these gases at the inner and outer ends of the tube.

Such an oxygen supply mechanism severely limits the length of the tracheal tube, the maximum length of which is fairly easy to calculate, so the maximum size of the body of the insect itself (in cross section) cannot exceed the size chicken egg. However, if we had higher pressure on the planet, insects could reach gigantic sizes (as in science fiction horror films).

The color of the hemolymph in insects can be almost any, because. it contains many various substances including poisons and acids. Thus, the blister family got its name precisely because of the ability of its representatives (for example, the spanish fly) to isolate drops from the joints of the thighs and lower legs. yellow blood, which, if it comes into contact with the skin of a person, causes burns and watery blisters that look like abscesses.

Representatives of many families contain very toxic substances in the hemolymph, in particular, cantharidin. If such a poisonous hemolymph enters the mouth, it can cause serious poisoning of a person and even death. Particularly poisonous blood ladybugs- specific smell, cloudy, yellow-orange liquid that they secrete in case of danger.

Science knows that in different living organisms on the planet, the blood has a different shade.

However, in humans it is red. Why is the blood red - both children and adults ask this question.

The answer is quite simple: the red color is due to hemoglobin, which contains iron atoms in its structure.

Red blood is made by hemoglobin, which consists of:

1. From a protein called globin;
2. The non-protein element heme, which contains the ferrous ion.

It was possible to find out what gives the red color, but its elements turn out to be no less interesting. What elements give it such a color is an equally interesting aspect.

In the blood:

1. Plasma. The liquid is light yellow in color, with its help the cells in its composition can move. It consists of 90 percent water, and the remaining 10 percent are organic and inorganic components. Plasma also contains vitamins and microelements. Light yellow liquid contains many useful substances.
2. Formed elements are blood cells. There are three types of cells: leukocytes, platelets and erythrocytes. Each type of cell has certain functions and features.

These are white bodies that protect the human body. They protect it from internal diseases and foreign microorganisms penetrating from outside.

This is a white item. Its white hue cannot be overlooked during laboratory tests, so such cells are determined quite simply.

Leukocytes recognize foreign cells that can cause harm and destroy them.

These are very small colored plates, whose main function is folding.

It is these cells that are responsible for making the blood:

• Coagulated, did not flow out of the body;
• Curling rather quickly on the surface of the wound.

More than 90 percent of these cells in the blood. It is also red because erythrocytes have such a shade.

They carry oxygen from the lungs to peripheral tissues and are continuously produced in the bone marrow. They live for about four months, then are destroyed in the liver and spleen.

It is very important for erythrocytes to bring oxygen to various tissues of the human body.

Few people know that immature erythrocytes are blue in color, then they acquire a gray tint and only after that they turn red.

There are a lot of human erythrocytes, which is why oxygen reaches the peripheral tissues so quickly.

It is difficult to say which element is more important. Each of them has an important function that affects human health.

Children often ask questions about the components of the human body. Blood is one of the most popular topics for discussion.

Explanations for children should be extremely simple, but at the same time informative. Blood contains many substances that differ in function.

Consists of plasma and special cells:

1. Plasma is a liquid that contains useful substances. It has a light yellow tint.
2. The formed elements are erythrocytes, leukocytes and platelets.

The presence of red cells - erythrocytes and explains its color. Erythrocytes are red in nature, and their accumulation leads to the fact that a person’s blood is of exactly this color.

There are about thirty-five billion red cells that move through the human body in the blood vessels.

Why are veins blue

Veins carry maroon blood. They are red, like the color of the blood that flows through them, but not blue at all. The veins only appear blue.

This can be explained by the law of physics about the reflection of light and perception:

When a beam of light hits the body, the skin reflects some of the waves and looks bright. However, it misses the blue spectrum much worse.

Blood itself absorbs light of all wavelengths. The skin gives a blue color for visibility, and the vein is red.

The human brain compares the color of a blood vessel against a warm skin tone, resulting in blue.

Blood of a different color in different living beings

Not all living organisms have red blood.

The protein that gives this color in humans is hemoglobin contained in hemoglobin. Other living beings have different fat-containing proteins instead of hemoglobin.

The most common shades besides red are:

1. Blue. Crustaceans, spiders, mollusks, octopuses and squids can boast of this color. And blue blood is of great importance for these creatures, as it is filled with important elements. Instead of hemoglobin, it contains hemocyanin, which contains copper.
2. Violet. This color is found in marine invertebrates and some molluscs. Usually such blood is not only purple, but also slightly pink. Pink-colored blood in young invertebrates. In this case, the protein is hemerythrin.
3. Green. Found in annelids and leeches. Protein - chlorocruorin, close to hemoglobin. However, iron in this case is not oxide, but ferrous.

The color of blood differs depending on the protein it contains. Whatever the color of the blood, it has a huge amount of nutrients needed by a living organism. Pigment for each organism is important, despite its diversity.

Video - Secrets and mysteries of our blood

Blood in our body plays the role of a transportation system. When pumped by the heart, blood delivers oxygen from the air we breathe and all the nutrients from the food we eat to all the cells of the body.

The blood also keeps the cells clean and healthy, as it carries away waste products from the cells, which are obtained after the use of oxygen and nutrients. To regulate various processes in our body, the glands produce hormones, and it is the blood that carries these hormones throughout the body. The blood also carries heat throughout the body.
A watery liquid like plasma- makes up more than half of the blood in the body. Plasma contains metabolic products, nutrients, and also substances and chemical compounds that are so necessary for blood clotting.

Tiny cells make up the rest of the blood. Carry oxygen throughout the body carbon dioxide that comes out of the lungs, red blood cells such as erythrocytes. White blood cells - leukocytes, are the rest of the blood elements. Leukocytes destroy pathogens that enter our body, which protect us from all kinds of infections.
Although red blood cells are the smallest cells in our body, a drop of blood contains approximately 5 million red blood cells, 10,000 white blood cells, and 250,000 platelets. platelets responsible for the formation blood clot where the blood vessel is damaged.
There are only four blood groups: 0, A, B, AB. Every person's blood belongs to one of these groups.

The protein found in the blood is called hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is found in red blood cells and contains iron, and because of this, our blood is red in color. Sometimes our blood is dark red, and sometimes bright red. The change in the amount of oxygen in our blood is what explains the difference in color.

Types of blood vessels, such as arteries, carry blood from the heart and lungs to the rest of the body. Such blood is saturated with oxygen, which, when combined with hemoglobin, gives the blood a bright red color.

Why is blood red?

Blood is red because heme is red, and that's it. It's just that nature is arranged in such a way that complex compounds of transition metals with organic and inorganic substances, as a rule, have some kind of color. For example, many complex compounds of divalent copper are colored dark blue; complex compound of ferric iron with cyanide in aqueous solution has a yellow color, and with rhodanide - red. And the complex compound of ferrous iron with porphyrin (heme) is colored red. This is how the distribution of valence electrons of this compound over energy levels has developed. And it so happened that it is heme that is able to reversibly add both molecular oxygen (without the formation of iron oxide!), And carbon oxides, and its red color has only an indirect relation to this property. To convert heme iron to oxide, heme must be irreversibly destroyed. Ferrous oxide is black, insoluble in water and simply unable to give up oxygen. If BestFriend believes that by binding to oxygen, heme iron is oxidized to ferric iron, then this is also not true. Ferric oxide has a brown-red (or brick red) color, closer to the color of venous blood, while oxygen-rich hemoglobin is bright scarlet. Ferric oxide is also insoluble in water, and is also incapable of giving up oxygen just like that. And also, in order for it to form, the heme must be irreversibly destroyed. And the transformation of heme iron into ferric (it happens with some poisonings) leads to the loss of the ability of heme to carry oxygen. Let me emphasize that the oxygen bound in a complex with hemoglobin retains its molecular form, without oxidizing anything in hemoglobin.

This is because red blood cells are part of the blood. They in turn carry oxygen throughout the body. And the fact is that red blood cells or hemoglobin are composed, or rather, they contain two-valent iron in their composition, which attaches oxygen and, together with hemoglobin, transports it with blood to nourish the cells. But iron salts in hemoglobin and have a red color. and precisely arterial blood rich in oxygen and brighter colored, and the venous darker. Of course, this process is very complicated to explain it only from the standpoint of chemistry. But everyone knows that those who have little hemoglobin in their blood need to consume foods rich in iron.

In order to understand why blood is red, you need to understand its composition.

Blood is made up of plasma and shaped elements: leukocytes, platelets and erythrocytes.

Leukocytes and platelets are colorless.

Red blood cells contain hemoglobin, a red pigment that gives blood its red color.

BestFriend explained everything correctly, it remains to add what he kept silent about.

Hemoglobin is contained in special blood cells - erythrocytes. This is a necessary condition for the transfer of oxygen to the cells of the body and its release for the oxidation of nutrients (as a result, obtaining energy for life). Outside of erythrocyte cells, hemoglobin is able to bind oxygen, but it is very reluctant to give it away, only under the influence of enzymes. But why reinvent the wheel if everything the necessary conditions already created in erythrocytes?

Red blood cells are what give blood its red color. Especially arterial, which is enriched with oxygen (it is bright red and opaque). And here deoxygenated blood, if you look at it in a test tube, it looks like cherry jam diluted with water. The secret of the focus is simple: red blood cells, having given oxygen to the cells, lose their color, besides, they decrease somewhat in size, and go through the veins to the second circle - for a new portion of oxygen from the lungs.

So arterial bleeding any person can distinguish from venous blood: bright red blood - from an artery, dark red - from a vein.

The leaves could have been of other colors if not for an accident during their evolution. There are also non-green plants in the world, but it just so happened that it was the green ones that spread.

And the blood also does not have to be red, there is also blue, due to the content