• Question: what would humans be like if they had a different metal in there blood

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      Asked by tryranidhive to Alex, Anaïs, Peter, Sarwat, Shreesha on 10 Mar 2015.
      • Photo: Alexander Henderson

        Alexander Henderson answered on 10 Mar 2015:

        The red colour of blood is attributed to iron containing molecules (haem) that bind and transport O2 around the body. Transition metals, such as iron, can have many different colours, depending on oxidation state and environment. Other specialist organisms do use different metals to bind and transport O2; such as copper, making the blood a green colour!

      • Photo: Shreesha Bhat

        Shreesha Bhat answered on 10 Mar 2015:

        Iron containing haemoglobin are responsible for the red colour of the blood. If we replace them by copper containing haemocyanin (as you can find in some invertebrates like crabs and lobsters) blood will be bluish in colour.

      • Photo: Peter Maskell

        Peter Maskell answered on 11 Mar 2015:

        Although other animals such as crabs have copper for oxygen binding and transportation it is not as good as transporting oxygen only ~25% as efficient as iron.

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