Okay, here's a question...

[vr_trakowski]

Human blood uses iron to transport oxygen molecules.  Oxygen-carrying blood is red--it's oxidized, after a fashion...rusty.  Fine. 

Vulcan blood (I know, work with me here) uses copper to transport oxygen.  Oxygenated copper turns green (or greeny-blue).  So... 

Is unoxygenated Vulcan blood...red? 

Comments

[brandie.livejournal.com]

What color is our (human) blood when it isn't oxygenated? I thought it was still red, just duller.

But if that is the case, I bet Vulcan blood would continue to be greenish-blue, just duller.

I could be speaking out of my rear though. All the wiki's I browsed (I'm bored at work) did not mention oxygenated blood vs. un-oxygenated blood. :/

[anamin.livejournal.com]

Well I think it's blue because Veins are blue, and they carry away from the heart, and arteries are red or vice versa? *looks at wrists*

No, veins carry toward, and arteries away.

[brandie.livejournal.com]

It could be my skin, but my veins are green :O

IMA VULCAN

:)

There's this really big star trek groupie here on campus... I should try to find him. Though, he might be offended... his forte is Klingon. As in his office looks like a bird of prey and he speaks the language fluently.

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

Well, you could ask him what color a Vulcan's blood is when they're disembowelled in an oxygen-free atmosphere...of course, Klingon blood looks like Pepto-Bismol!

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

I never could remember that...and I was a Bio major for 3.5 years!

[anamin.livejournal.com]

Well, veins are blue so they have no oxygen, logically speaking are headed toward the heart, and since arteries are red, they're carring the oxygen, so they're away because they just got oxygen OR veins go to the lungs. . .the lungs would have to be involved somehow. . .

Here's the wiki on it.

[anamin.livejournal.com]

here's the link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veins

[plkphoto.livejournal.com]

Just for the heck of it, since I've taught physiology, let's see if this clears things up a bit:

Veins always head toward the heart, arteries always head away from the heart, regardless of oxygenation. The difference between veins and arteries is the amount/type of pressure they withstand.

Because arteries have blood that's actively pumped from the heart, they have to withstand a high blood pressure and maintain it so that the blood will be forced into the far parts of the body. The veins, on the other hand, are collecting blood that's returning from tissue where it has passed through tiny capillaries, so the pressure is very low as the blood is moved along toward the heart. Thus vein walls are a lot thinner than artery walls and so you can see the blood in veins more easily through your skin. The blueness is just an illusion.

As for the lungs, the blood vessels that leave the heart and head to the lungs are still arteries (pulmonary arteries) because they have high pressure blood straight from the heart, but this blood has low oxygen levels. The blood vessels that return from the lungs to the heart are veins (pulmonary veins), and are low pressure, but high oxygen.

Anyway, feel free to ignore me... :-D

PLK

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was disappointed to find that the blue appearance of human blood is an illusion of sorts. But I'm still curious.

[tres_mechante.livejournal.com]

Turth to tell, I really don't know how to answer that. However, I must confess that I love the way your mind works. *pets and cuddles your brain*

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

Hee! *brainpurr*

[anamin.livejournal.com]

I don't know the answer, but I sure like the question.

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

One could spend hours debating!

[inalichenmanner.livejournal.com]

It's copper! :P

(Now, whether it's the shiny reddish color of polished copper, or the greenish patina of aged copper is probably your choice.)

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly! A question for the ages.

[elfling65.livejournal.com]

What an interesting question! Our blood is red period. Darker when it has less oxygen, brighter red when it has lots of oxygen. It just looks blue through the skin.

How that translates to Vulcan? I have no idea. I bet it's still green though...

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

We need to trap one and find out...

[(Anonymous)]

That would be a fun challenge. I want in on that!

[boubabe14.livejournal.com]

It is logical to assume that since human blood is still red even though it is un-oxygenated, Vulcan blood is still green under the same set of variables. One also assumes that either sample is not completely un-oxygenated, and that the oxygen level is not what dictates the color. Fascinating. *Raises left eyebrow for emphasis*

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

*applause* Are you half-Vulcan yourself?

[boubabe14.livejournal.com]

Oh, gracious me, no. I tend to run much more along the same genetic make-up as Captain Kirk - undiplomatic, rabidly emotional, and often illogical in my reasoning. However, I am a scientist by trade so I can speak the language quite well.

[wobbear.livejournal.com]

It is gray-green (and has pointy ears--uh--platelets).

[plkphoto.livejournal.com]

*whips out old Animal Physiology textbook*

Warning, this may be TMI... And I'm not quite up to paraphrasing biochem terms at the moment, so I'll go for direct quotes.

Three relevant sections from my 4th ed. of Eckert Animal Physiology:

"Respiratory pigments are complexes of proteins and metallic ions, and each one has a characteristic color. The color of a respiratory pigment changes with its O2 content. Thus, hemoglobin, which is bright red when it is loaded with O2, becomes a dark maroon-red when deoxygenated."

"If O2 is bound, the molecule is referred to as oxyhemoglobin; if O2 is absent, it is called deoxyhemoglobin. Binding of O2 to hemoglobin to form oxyhemoglobin does not oxidize ferrous to ferric iron. Oxidation of the ferrous iron in hemoglobin to the ferric state produces methemoglobin, which does not bind O2 and therefore is nonfunctional."


About the oxygen transport molecule hemocyanin which is found in Mollusca (clams, snails, and octopus) and Arthropoda (spiders, insects, and centipedes):

"Hemocyanin, a large, copper-containing respiratory pigment, has many properties similar to those of hemoglobin... In its oxygenated form, it is light blue; in its unoxygenated form, it is colorless."

Yeah... er probably TMI, but I found it interesting... :-D
Let me know if you need a translation, and I'll try to help out.

PLK (http://community.livejournal.com/geekfiction/tag/plkphoto)