Blood is red because it contains haemoglobin which has an iron group that binds oxygen and carries it round the body. Haemoglobin is a protein and the subunit, haeme, is the part that makes blood red.
Hi, Sianas answer is right – the haem part of haemoglobin – the bit in the red blood cells that carries the oxygen is a red colour because it contains iron. If you combine iron and oxygen you get a red chemical – think rust, only it’s in your blood so not quite the same….
Each hemoglobin protein is made up subunits called hemes, which are what give blood its red color. More specifically the hemes can bind iron molecules, and these iron molecules bind oxygen. The blood cells are red because of the interaction between iron and oxygen.
Have you ever noticed that even though your veins are blue, you never bleed blue blood if you get cut? That’s because as soon as ‘deoxygenated’ blood hits the air, the oxygen binds to the hemoglobin and it turns red. Pretty cool!
I’m fairly sure that is actually a myth. Blood is always red whether it is oxygenated or not, it is the haemoglobin that causes it to be red. Though I may be wrong!
Comments
chalky1984 commented on :
the blood cells are red because of the interaction between iron and oxygen
268aged43 commented on :
Each hemoglobin protein is made up subunits called hemes, which are what give blood its red color. More specifically the hemes can bind iron molecules, and these iron molecules bind oxygen. The blood cells are red because of the interaction between iron and oxygen.
268aged43 commented on :
The blood cells are red because of the interaction between iron and oxygen.
Carolyn commented on :
Have you ever noticed that even though your veins are blue, you never bleed blue blood if you get cut? That’s because as soon as ‘deoxygenated’ blood hits the air, the oxygen binds to the hemoglobin and it turns red. Pretty cool!
468aged45 commented on :
I’m fairly sure that is actually a myth. Blood is always red whether it is oxygenated or not, it is the haemoglobin that causes it to be red. Though I may be wrong!