The Chemistry of Blood Types

Introduction

Blood is very important to our lives. It keeps us alive. There are 8 different types of blood. A,B,AB,and O. These types all come in positive and negative. These blood types cause different antibodies to be produced. These antibodies help us from getting sick. Blood types are important because blood can be donated and given to someone in need of some more blood. About every two seconds some one in the United States of America needs blood. My life has been affected by blood types because I have needed blood before. Composition of ...The composition (what it is made of) is plasma, red blood cells,and white blood cells. Plasma is 92% water. Another important part of blood is sugar. In blood, sugar is known as glucose which is a type of sugar. The red blood cells carry oxygen and the white blood cells produce antibodies which protect us from foreign cells in our bodies.

Main Chemicals, Compounds, Components

The two main compouds in blood is water and glucose. Water consists of 2 hydrogens and 1 oxygen. H2O. Our blood is mostly water. The second compound is glucose. Glucose consists of 6 carbon, 12 hydrogen, and 6 oxygen. C6H12O6. Both of these compounds are natually occuring.

Chemistry's Role

There is chemistry in everything in our lives, including blood types. The water carries the glucose to out cells all around the body and this is important because this is how our bodies get energy. The glucose breaks down and releases energy for our bodies to use. Without this process we would all die.

Background Research

With our different blood types we produce different antibodies. This is why we can’t mix certain types of blood. Antibodies attack foreign cells that are not supposed to be in our bodies. When our antibodies see the foreign blood that is not the same type it attacks it and clots up. This is bad because we don’t want blood clots in our bodies, that could be very dangerous. The most common blood types are A+ and O+. About 1 in 3 people have these types. The most rare blood type is AB-, about 1 in 167 have this type of blood.

Resources

http://bloodcenter.stanford.edu/bcinfo/AboutBlood.html

    • talks about percentages of each blood type.
    • Talks about plasma
    • Tells plasma is 92% water
    • says red and white blood cells and platelets are suspended in plasma.
    • has a blood type combatibility chart

https://www.chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/netorial/modules/biomolecules/modules/carbs/carb8a.htm

    • Talks about carbohydrates role in cell to cell recognition
    • has a model of structure for each blood type’s antogens.
    • gives information on how the process works

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/inheritance/blood/

    • has information on agluttinogens
    • the genetics behind blood type
    • what happens when you mix blood types

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2263/#ch1.1.2

    • The contents of blood
    • oxygen
    • sucrose
    • albumin
    • enzymes
    • hormones

http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/difference-between-sucrose-glucose-fructose-8704.html

    • Talks about the different types of sugar including glucose which is blood sugar.

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/macromolecules/carbohydrates-and-sugars/v/molecular-structure-of-glucose

-Shows glucose molecule and talks about it.

http://faculty.southwest.tn.edu/rburkett/GB%20organic%20chem.htm

http://www.redcrossblood.org/learn-about-blood/blood-facts-and-statistics

Blood statistics