• Question: wvhy do we have blood?

    Asked by mmulligan862 to Amy, Drew, Julia, Kimberley, Sara on 10 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Drew Rae

      Drew Rae answered on 9 Jun 2011:

      Blood is your body’s transport system – like roads or trains are for us. Our body is made up of lots of cells joined together. Most of these are alive, and need their own food and air. The blood carries the food and air to the cells. The blood does some important other jobs too. For example, when you get a cut, the blood carries the right things to stop you bleeding. When you get sick, the blood carries the things to fight the germs in your body.

    • Photo: Kimberley Bryon

      Kimberley Bryon answered on 9 Jun 2011:

      We have blood because as Drew said we need a way of getting things like food and oxygen around our body.

    • Photo: Sara Imari Walker

      Sara Imari Walker answered on 10 Jun 2011:

      Drew and Kimberley are absolutely right. Blood is extremely important for our bodies to function. We are made up of tiny cells – each of which needs nutrients like oxygen and water to keep it running. Our blood system is the like a massive highway system that gets the needed nutrients to all parts of our body – keeping our cells healthy and happy. The jobs Drew described are done by cells that live in the blood (millions of these tiny cells are in each drop of blood!). We have red blood cells to carry nutrients around the body, platelets to help with clotting (i.e. to stop bleeding as described by Drew), and white blood cells to fight disease. Without the blood system these cells would have no way to get around and help all our other cells!

    • Photo: Julia Griffen

      Julia Griffen answered on 10 Jun 2011:

      Excellent answers some facts to elaborate:

      – A human has 5-6 litres of blood!
      – The heart pumps this 5-6 litres around the body every minute…. every day 10 tonnes of blood is moved around our body!
      – Blood consists of water, 78% water : 22% solids
      – Plasma is the liquid part of the blood in which contains a suspension of solids including: red blood cells (contain iron and transport oxygen), white blood cells (fight infection and disease) and platelets (which make blood clots).
      – The blood also contains and transports: fat, chemical substances, gases.
      – Blood cells are made in bone marrow, the centre part of our bones which is soft and spongy.
      – The combined length of arteries, arterioles, capillaries, venules and veins is around 100,000 miles (Almost 4 times round the earth!)

      that’ll do I think… :0)

    • Photo: Amy MacQueen

      Amy MacQueen answered on 10 Jun 2011:

      By the way blood is awesome!!!!!

      So it does everything these guys said…its a wonderful transport system – an awesome network that the things we need can move around in. Its also amazing how it can get around the body – your heart is pumping your blood all through you every minute of every day…that’s some muscle!!

      🙂

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