Red+Blood+Cells+-+GV

__ **Introduction** __ toc

You’re waiting for the last bit of oxygen to escape your body before your eyes are set to see black. Inside you're screaming for your cells to get oxygen, and then all of a sudden you wake up and realize nothing is wrong, yo u realize that your red blood cells are doing their job just fine. Oxygen is really important for all of us but it is really important for our cells. Now why do our cells need oxygen, well it’s because it gives the cells energy which is really important for us. How do they get this oxygen, simple, by red blood cells. Red blood cells provide the oxygen to the cells by traveling through capillaries or blood vessels, picking up the oxygen from the lungs and then dropping them off at different cells like a CVS truck. The red blood cells are made out of hemoglobin which provides them to do the job. Be careful though too many red blood cells can lead to dangerous matters. https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1pJF6gmH3j9VokCOZSzW8QjWLyereWH3V7d_eRmXTrVQ/pub?w=960&h=720

= = = __Function of Red Blood Cells and Mailman RBC__ =

What are Red Blood Cells? Well Red blood cells are tiny little red circles that float in our bodies. Our bodies need oxygen to live, without oxygen we might as well be the realistic version of the walking dead. Red cells provide that oxygen for us. Think of red blood cells as the mailman and the oxygen as the mail. The mailman RBC gathers the mail (Oxygen) and delivers the mail (Oxygen) to all of the cells in the body. But what happens when you don’t need the mail anymore you throw it out and it disappears, well red blood cells do that too. About 2 million red blood cells die every second but don’t worry when you get rid of the old mail you get new mail. Just like mail, according to the Prentice Hall Science Explorer science text book, when those 2 million red blood cells die your bone marrow is producing more red blood cells at the same rate.

[|__http://www.healthhype.com/red-blood-cells-functions-size-structure-life-cycle-pictures.html__] this website has a good visual and good information if you wanted to know more.

= = = __What are Red Blood Cells made out of?__ =

How can we know if Red Blood Cells are good for us if we don’t know what it’s made out of. Red blood cells are made out of Hemoglobin, (He-mo-glo-bin) doesn’t it kind of make you want to say hemo-goblin. Anyways Hemoglobin is an iron that contains protein. The protein that the Hemoglobin contains allows the oxygen to chemically bind to molecules. Hemoglobin is good for picking up oxygen in the lungs and releasing it while blood travels through the **Capillaries**. Capillaries are similar a body's blood vessel. Hemoglobin also likes to pick up carbon dioxide that was produced from cells.



= = = __How do Red Blood Cells Look Like?__ =

Red Blood Cells seem to circular shaped but are actually Biconcave Disks. Biconcave disks are concave on both sides as a lens. It’s good that these cells are shaped the way they are because the surface of the shape increases the efficiency of oxygen and carbon dioxide into and out of the cell. This means more oxygen which is really good for us. Also because red blood cells are so tiny and have flexible membranes they can get into tight spaces and travel to smaller cells. A membrane is it’s a structure that acts as a border or lining around the object. Cell shape is really an important aspect for red blood cells because this can have an effect and could cause sickle cell anemia. Red blood cells have to be able to be small enough to travel through capillaries or blood vessels so they can get to the other cells but sometimes the cells will end up changing shape and will become long wide and it will become harder for the cells to travel to the other cells which means less oxygen for the body. [|__https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JOQ7MXGer8__] the link to the right is a visual of when the shape of a red blood cell changes then it becomes harder for them to travel through the capillaries.

= = = __Blood Doping (EPO): Negative or Positive?__ =

You would like to know that blood doping is both Negative and Positive. Blood doping, a version of it known as EPO is when you put extra red blood cells in your body. This is a positive process because for people who have **Sickle Cell Anemia.** Sickle Cell Anemia, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute is an illness that happens because the red blood cell changes shape known usually as sickle shape. This makes it harder for the red blood cells to give oxygens to all of the other cells because the shape makes it harder for them to travel through the vessels.They could really use the extra help from the extra red blood cells because that would provide what they needed. Blood doping (EPO) is also a negative process because when you have too many red blood cells in your body it clogs in the capillaries and when that happens it can result in a heat stroke or heart attack in the heart. A lot of athletes used to do this to cheat because it would provide energy and more oxygen from the red blood cells for them to win but some athletes have resulted on the negative process of blood doping (EPO). [|__http://www.livescience.com/32388-what-is-blood-doping.html__] this is a good site to check extra info for blood doping.

The picture to the left is an image of Lance Armstrong. He is a famous cyclist winning many titles and trophies. Lance is an example of an athletes caught doing EPO. An athlete who does EPO is referred to as a cheater.

This is Marion Jones a famous athlete known for running. She is another athlete caught blood doping or cheating. The punishments she received were severe, she was stripped of her gold metals that she won from the olympics and sentenced to jail for about 6 months.

__ **Conclusion** __

Red Blood Cells are like the barges on the Mississippi river. Like how the barges on the river move stuff up and down the river red blood cells move oxygen around the body. They can do this job with the structure they’re made out of which is hemoglobin, they provide some with safety and others with the deadly consequence. Red Blood Cells shape provide the opportunity for it to flow through the capillaries providing all cells with oxygen with the oxygen they need. Red blood cells make it possible for us to do many things today. If it wasn’t for them you probably wouldn’t be in the state you are now. We should thank red blood cells because they help us live long, happy, and healthy lives. = = = References = Works Cited Chris, Dr. “Red Blood Cells Functions, Size, Structure. Life Cycle, Pictures.” http://www.healthhype.com/. Health hype, n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2016. . “The Circulatory System.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/. BBC, n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2016. . Gunnell, Noreen, ed. “Exploring the Red Blood Cell: Structure and Function Study Guide.” http://www.brighthubeducation.com/. Bright Hub Inc., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2016. . MLARed Blood Cells Ancient Lights, 1995. Video Segment Discovery Education. Web. 17/2/2016. . Palmer, Anita. “Structure of Red Blood Cells and Relation to Function.” http://anitacardioresp.blogspot.com/. anita palmer, n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2016. . Prentice Hall Science Explorer. Boston: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. Print. “Up Close: The Blood.” http://www.pklifescience.com/. The Rosen Publishing group, n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2016. .
 * “What Is Sickle Cell Disease?” http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2016. . **