Blood Colour

Wasnt sure where to post this, this place seemed most appropriate.

I was bored at work and usually gets me thinking, this time it was about blood colour. Apparently blood, when it is inside out body is a blue colour, but when it is oxidised it turns red, which is what we see when we cut ourselves open.

So my question is this, is there anyway to see un-oxidised blood and see it in its blue colour?

Or am I completely wrong about this whole thing?!

Thank you.

[edit on 24-3-2007 by StrangeVision]

Actually this Wikipedia article is a good source for this topic:

en.wikipedia.org...

From The Wikipedia Article
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.

The blood of horseshoe crabs is blue, which is a result of its high content in copper-based hemocyanin instead of the iron-based hemoglobin found, for example, in humans.

So is that just a myth then ,that some of our blood is blue.I have heard people telling me that all my life.Then there is only really just red blood?

Originally posted by mistr_b2
So is that just a myth then ,that some of our blood is blue.I have heard people telling me that all my life.Then there is only really just red blood?

Exactly, human blood is always red, darker and lighter depending on the level of oxygen, never blue.

I'm going to have to disagree on that one...


I happen to be able to see my veins as I am very skinny. I see blue veins (sorry on the terms, I'm no scientist) and red veins. Red oxygenated ones going out of the heart, blue going into correct?

Last time I checked I wasn't color blind and could tell the difference between blue and red...

Human blood is red.. It gets darker red and eventually brown as the iron oxidises with the oxygen in the air.

As the link above stated, there is an optical illusion that makes your veins appear blue, but the blood is always red.. Much brighter red when it first comes out.

If you see someone in a car accident and you see dark dark dark blood, almost black, that's a very bad sign... Possible spleen damage and internal bleeding...

Originally posted by biggie smalls
I'm going to have to disagree on that one...


I happen to be able to see my veins as I am very skinny. I see blue veins (sorry on the terms, I'm no scientist) and red veins. Red oxygenated ones going out of the heart, blue going into correct?

Last time I checked I wasn't color blind and could tell the difference between blue and red...

Venes are on the outisde of your body, while arteries are on the inside, where you shouldnt be able to see them. And if you can see the vessels running to and from your heart, then you definately are VERY skinny..

Ah I cannot see my veins and arteries on my chest. I can however see them on my arms. I wasn't quite sure about the technical terms, thank you for clarifying.

What makes it an optical illusion though? Am I not seeing the blue veins?