Blood cells

Instructions: Fill in the missing words by listening to or watching the Youtube clip - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co6iuDpaQTM&t=39s&ab_channel=FuseSchool-GlobalEducation

What is __Blood___?

Blood is always red, right? Wrong. Blood comes in a variety of colours. It may be __Red__ in

humans and in other __mamals__, but an octopus, for example, has blue blood and oscillated

ice fish have blood that is completely clear and in Papua New Guinea there are green-

blooded skink - with green _Green blood__. So don't be fooled into thinking blood is always red.

We are going to discover what blood is made of and the roles of the different components.

Blood consists of red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma.

Fifty five percent of our blood is this pale yellow sticky liquid called plasma. Plasma is

mainly made up of water and proteins. It __carries__ nutrients, hormones and proteins around

the body and it also distributes heat around the body, so it is pretty important.

However, this is not the part that makes blood red, green, blue or clear. __Plasma___ equals

about 92% water and just under 8% _Plasma_.

About 45% of our blood is made up of red blood cells. Red blood cells are __tiny__ bi-concave,

disc-shaped cells known as erythrocytes. They are made in the bone marrow and contain

a special iron-containing protein called haemoglobin.

__Haemohlobin__ is what enables our red blood cells to carry oxygen around the body and it is

haemoglobin that makes our blood red. __Octopus__ have a different special protein called

haemocyanin which makes their __Blood__ blue. The ice fish doesn't have either haemoglobin

or _haemocyanin__ which is why the blood runs clear.

_White__ blood cells and platelets make up less than 1% of our blood. White blood cells are

warriors. They protect our body against invasion from disease-causing organisms known

as _pathogens__. These clever little cells do this in two ways.

__70__ percent of our white blood cells are phagocytes and engulf foreign pathogens in

a process known as phagocytosis...or the others are lymphocytes which produce

_Antibodies__. Antibodies bind to the foreign pathogen and stop it from invading further.

You will learn more about white _Blood__ cells when learning about __Disease__ and how our body

defends itself against pathogens.

Now....finally __Plateletes__. Platelets make a tiny fraction of our blood. They help the blood to

__clot__when you cut yourself, stopping the bleeding and preventing the __cut__ from

becoming infected.

You should now know that blood isn't necessarily _Red__, and the colour depends on what the

blood cells are made up of. Blood consists of nutrients, heat transporting plasma, and the oxygen carrying red blood cells. Less than 1% is made up of very important pathogen-fighting white blood cells. Lastly, blood has clotting platelets.

Answer these questions in your own words: 

• What makes human blood red?

A protein called hempolgean makes the human blood red.

• What is our blood made up of? (use percentages as well)

55% plasma , 45% red blood cells, less than 1% white blood cells/palets.

• What stops you bleeding out when you cut yourself or have an injury?

Platelets in your white blood cells help your blood clot.

• What does blood have to do with fighting off diseases?

You need white blood cells to help fight the 

• Explain what plasma is. 

Plasma yellow sticky liquid made out of water and protein.

• What is a red blood cell? What does it do? What does it look like? What is it made of? 

Tiny, Bi-concave, Disc shaped. It is made in the bone marrow and they have a protein called hemoglobin.

• What other animals (or types of animals) have red blood? 

Mamal