Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Michael Zappitella
Chemistry II
5/18/2007
There are many things that make up every humans blood that people are not familiar
with. Each component in your blood is made up of different tissues, chemicals, and elements.
Each of these components have separate but equally important functions to keep your body
healthy and in working condition. It is important to be aware of your blood type because
certain diseases and defects can appear in your blood. This can effect child birth as well as
Plasma is one of the major components in your blood. Plasma is a cell free serum in
your blood that can be obtained through centrifuging. When you take a sample of blood
you place the samples in a sealed contained inside a centrifuge and turn it on. After a short
time the blood cells separate. The blood plasma appears at the top, the middle milky, foamy
layer is white blood cells, and the bottom layer is the red blood cells. It makes up 55% of
your total blood volume. Plasma itself is made up of 90% water and 10% dry matter. Nine
parts of it are organic substances whereas one part is minerals. These substances are
amino acids and vitamins. The mineral substances are dissolved into positive and negative
ions. Plasma appears to be transparent with a straw yellowish color. It is an alkaline fluid.
Its function is to transport amino acids, water, carbon dioxide to parts of the body
and remove metabolic end products. People can receive plasma through transfusions if their
count is low. This is important to others survival if a need is presented. This is one way that
The next component of blood in every human anatomy is the Erythrocytes or the red
blood cells. Red blood cells are the most common cell in the body. It is made up of
hemoglobin and iron containing heme groups that temporarily bind to oxygen to transport
to the body. Oxygen is diffused though the red blood cells membrane to all bodily tissues.
The shape of the red blood cell is a biconcave shape allowing more room for the
hemoglobin. It also carries the CO2 waste products from the tissues to be disposed. The
hemoglobin in the red blood cells changes color depending on what chemical is attached to
it. When oxygen is present the cell turns scarlet red. When the oxygen is released it turns a
bluish color. Adult humans have roughly 2–3 X 10 to the thirteenth power red blood cells
at any given time (women have about 4 million to 5 million erythrocytes per cubic
microliter of blood and men about 5 million to 6 million per cubic microliter. Red blood
cells can have many defects that can effect your bodily functions. Some defects are sickle
cell anemia in which every red blood cell is a sickle shape and it makes the transportation
of oxygen more difficult therefore shutting down some bodily functions. Other red blood
cell defect shapes include berry, burr, target, oat, sickle, helmet, pinched, pointed, indented,
pinche and pointed. These cells can liuve for an average of 120 days afer their production
in the red marrow in your bones. Knowledge of your blood type and shape of your red
blood cells is vital because you can transfuse your blood to others.
Another major component of blood in the body is the leukocytes or white blood cells.
These cells are bifar the most important cells in your body. They ensure the protection and
defense form viruses, diseases, and defects. There are actually many different types of
leukocytes that are produced from pluripotent stem cells in red bone marrow. Pluriotent
cells are cells that don’t initially have a determined type and function yet until they mature
in development. Different diseases can be determined by the count of white blood cells in
the body. For instance if there are more than the normal amount in ones blood, usually
about 4billion per liter in a normal human, you might have leukemia. If the count of white
blood cells is less than the norm, you might have leucopenia. One type of leukocyte that is
present in blood is the Neutrophil. These cells make up 50-70% of the white blood cells in
your body. These are specifically responsible for eliminating bacteria that are present in
pus wounds. They phagocyte or destroy bacteria by digesting them but are dead after they
complete the process. Another type of white blood cell is the Eosinophil. These are
responsible for attacking parasites and phagocyting antigen and antibody complexes. They
make up 2-4% of the white blood cells present. The third type of white blood cell is the
Basophil. They secrete histimine causing inflammation of the tissues when it senses an
allergic reaction to an antigen. Basophils make up .5-1% of white blood cells in body. The
fourth type of white blood cell is the Lymphocyte. These are present in blood and are in
every lymphoid organs. There are three individual types of these cells:the B cell (make
antibodies that attach to pathogens to kill them), T cells (which defend against tumors, and
viruses), and lastly Natural Killer Cells (Kill any cell that displays cancer cell or harmfully
virus characteristics). Lymphocytes make up 20-40% of total white blood cells in your
body. The fifth and final white blood cell is the Monocyte. These clean up the waste
produced and left over by netrophyls. They also mark harmful cells so the Natural Killer
Blood Platelets serve as yet another important component of blood. They are
responsible for helping to the clotting process in blood. Blood clotting is necessary to stop
as much blood from leaving the body as it can prevent. Blood Platelets are disc shaped and
have no cell nucleus. They too are developed in the bone marrow. They are made up of
mitochondria, RNA, and granules that are secreted when activated. These granules are
Lysosomes (digest food particles), ATP (provides molecular energy), and alpha granules
(clotting proteins). Blood platelets are activated when they are brought into contact with
collagen, thrombin, ADP, or a negatively charged surface. Once they are activated, they
release a number of coagulation factors and platelet activating factors. The platelets adhere
One thing that I have just learned about blood components is the Rh factor or Rhesus
Factor. The Rh is a antigen on the surface of some peoples red blood cells. It is either Rh
positive or Rh negative. This can help determine a persons specific ABO blood type. This
factor is something very important that is often overlooked when two parents have two
different Rh types. This can cause a Hemolytic disease of a newborn child. This is a
incompatibility of the Rh antigens and antibodies from the father and mother. Sometimes
the mother, at birth, can be injected with IgG antibodies to prevent the miscommunication
breathing. This is something preventable nowadays but it’s still vital information for nay
Blood is extremely important not just to ones self but to others around you. People
can possibly get into accidents or natural disasters where they might need blood
transfusions in order to save their lives. Giving blood is a common practice but is often
overlooked. There are different blood types that each person has and each blood type is
compatible with another type. Back in the 1800’s, before anything was known about blood
types or proper blood type blood transfusions, people would give animal blood to humans
and or other peoples blood that didn’t match their types. This was causing major heath
Blood Bibliography
2007 <http://www.funsci.com/fun3_en/blood/blood.htm>.
Source 2) Alberts, Bruce. "White Blood Cells." www.wikipedi.org. 14 Apr. 2007. 18 May
2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_blood_cells>.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_blood_cellshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_bloo
d_cellshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_blood_cellshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red
_blood_cells>.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_marrow>.
<http://www.bloodbook.com/type-facts.html>.
Source 5) "Rhesus blood group system." www.wikipedia.org. 13 May 2007. 18 May 2007
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rh_factor
2.Function
-It serves as transport medium for glucose, lipids, amino acids, hormones,
metabolic end products, carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen (O2).
3.Definition
-(Source 1)Blood plasma is the liquid component of blood, in which the blood
cells are suspended.
-Blood plasma contains many vital proteins.
4.Physical description
-It is a slightly alkaline fluid with a yellowish color.
-Made up of 90% water, and 10% dry matter.
a)The dry matter is made up of 9 parts organic material, 1 part
minerals.
2.Function
-These cells carry oxygen to bodily tissues, and recovering CO2 produced as
waste.
3.Definition
-Most common type of cell in a human body. Adult humans have roughly 2–3
13
× 10 red blood cells at any given time (women have about 4 million to 5 million
erythrocytes per cubic millimeter (micro liter) of blood and men about 5 million to 6
million.
4.Physical description
-Its shape is a biconcave lens. Some can be a sickle shape, which is a disease
(Sickle Cell Anemia), a burr, target, oat, helmet, pinched, pointed, indented, poikilocyt, etc.
2.Function
- White blood cells are part of the immune system which defend the body
against both infectious disease and foreign materials.
3.Definition
- White blood cells are formed in the bone marrow in large bones.
4.Physical description
-White ball shaped cell with spikes on the outside.
D) Platelets
1.Function
-Clotting factor in blood when tissue is cut.
2.Definition
-They are produced in bone marrow and help clot blood to reduce bleeding.
E) Rh Factor
-(Source 5)In some peoples blood, it is an antigen on the red blood cell that
indicate whether a blood type is negative or positive.
a)Rh positive(has Rh antigen) and Rh negative
no Rh antigen).
1.Ineritance of Rh factors
-The Rh antigen is inherited through he first chromosome with the two alleles
when Rh+ is dominant and Rh – is recessive.