Red blood cell

By Lucy Hibbert

Entry 1

Dear Diary, Hi, my name is Red and I’m a red blood cell. I am

now finally matured and am ready to go through the body to the heart. I was made in the bone marrow. You make about 1.7 million a second. Did you know that in one drop of blood there is 300 million of me. Come on the journey with me to the heart!

Entry 2Hi Guys, my job is to carry oxygen around to the body.I am now at the heart ready to be oxygenated. I am entering the right side of the heart to be oxygenated. I then must return to the left side of the heart then I will be pumped to the whole body. I am so excited I get to make my first big trip! Here you will see an animation of me. The blue section represents de-oxygenated blood and the red represents oxygenated. I have been instructed to go to the brain and deliver oxygen.

Entry 3• As you saw in the diagram the heart was very

important. The heart has 2 pumps. The deoxygenated blood enters the right side of the heart then goes to the left side and gets pumped to the body. The left side is a lot thicker because it has to pump oxygen and nutrients to the body. The heart has 4 chambers, left atrium, right atrium, left ventricle right ventricle.

Entry 4Dear Diary,• But that's only half the trip! After I deliver the oxygen, I pick up

a waste product called carbon dioxide, known as CO2. Then I make the return trip back to the lungs through the veins where the CO2 can finally be released. The body eliminates carbon dioxide every time we breathe out! Then, the red blood cells start the trip all over again.

Entry 5Wow, All this work and guess how long it takes

me it takes, on average only 30-45 seconds! We, red blood cells have a life span of about 120 days. Then we are removed from circulation by an organ called the spleen.

Entry 6 • As you saw in the diagram I went to the brain I travelled through

veins and capillaries to get there. Did you know your body has about 1 000 000 km of capillaries. Sometimes the capillaries are so small, that I and other red cells have to squeeze and bend in half to get through in order to release their load of oxygen! I also travelled to a main vein called the vena cava.

Vena cava

Entry 7

Are you wondering why I am red? Well in me I have a pigment containing iron called haemoglobin. It gives me this reddish colour. The job of the haemoglobin is to carry oxygen around the body when it is carrying oxygen it is called oxyhaemoglobin. I can carry a lot of haemoglobin because I have no nucleus so there is a lot of room!

Entry 7

Dear Diary,I have to continue my trip through the body. I

hope you all learnt something new.

-Red

Bibliography

• Science Quest 2 by Graeme Lofts and Merin. J Evergreen.

• Google Images• http://www.mybloodyourblood.org/

biology_red.htm