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Anry Anry
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May 03, 2006
Total points:
118796 (Level 7)

Resolved Question

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If blood is red why do your veins look blue?

What color is blood inside the body? If it is red then why do veins look blue?
  • 4 years ago
multidisciplinarian by multidis...
Member since:
December 16, 2005
Total points:
1323 (Level 3)

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

When blood is oxygenated in the lungs, it is red. This red, oxygenated blood is pumped by the heart through arteries to different parts of the body. You can't see these arteries, because they are deeper inside the body.

When blood gives up oxygen to the different parts of the body, it becomes blue. The veins take blood back to the heart and lungs. They are near the surface of the skin, so you can see them.

Source(s):

I am a medical doctor.
  • 4 years ago
Asker's Rating:
4 out of 5
Asker's Comment:
Thanks, & Thanks All Answerers.
im a doctor too( a real one ) and i never heard of blue blood, sorry.
its dark red as opposed to bright red .
maybe you ve been treating aliens.

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I tried to answer in the questioner's terms. No purpose would have been served if I had criticised their terminology. Blue, dark red or bluish red, so what? This forum is meant to encourage people to share knowledge, not to score cheap points against others.

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it may be dark red , it may be green, but it" LOOKS BLUE" as per the question... good answer .. AND good follow up responce by "multi"..." sho gunly" is , as his photo suggests, an donkey! oh i was a medic in the war... i've seen my share , red , blue , dark red and black...

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"When blood gives up oxygen to the different parts of the body, it becomes blue."
Hello? Human blood is always red and never blue (unless you add dy to it)!

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HUMAN BLOOD CAN NEVER BE BLUE....ITS DARK RED WHEN DE-OXYGENATED AND BRIGHT RED WHEN OXYGENATED....Our veins look blue because we are looking at them through our skin. The blood inside them is dark red and it doesn't reflect light very well.

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A much better answer is given at http://www.opticsnotes.com/sciopticsfaq/veins.htm and
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mbloodrd.html . In fact, when reading these websites you will become convinced that all other answers on this page are incorrect.

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Technically, it would be a physics question (related to optics) and NOT a biology question. The correct explanation is at the opticsnotes site mentioned above.

Pretty WRONG "best answer" for someone who claims to be a "medical doctor".

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I am a medical student and am also very disturbed by and disappointed with the best answer posted here. It is entirely misleading and factually incorrect. Even 100% deoxygenated blood is slightly darker RED and IN NO WAY close to the blueish color that veins appear through the skin.

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p.s. ever do a venous blood draw into a vacuum tube?

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omg cant ppl so many ignorant ppls out there. Blood is always red where it is in veins or artery. when u get cut, do u guys bleed blue?? O.o Its gotta do which wavelength read by our eyes. Punch a small hole in pape and put it over your vein, you wont see blue xD coz veins are clear

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a medical doctor...okay...thats such bull. Blodd is NEVER EVER Blue !!! its always red !

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What kind of MD are you Multidisciplinarian? You must have slept Biology 101! And whats up with the fake "medic from the war" who claims to have seen a full rainbow of blood colors, I guess from the paintball guns they were playing with. Bloood is always red, unless you have some rare disorder.

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