is blood blue until it comes in contact with air?
441575
Blood is not blue.  They just draw it that way in science books so you can distinguish arteries from veins.  You can take this to the bank.
228065
Look down there..\nThe *.pdf is most detailed and informative.\n\nI am stunned at the total lack of sense displayed by some of these answers! Blood is red! Oxygen poor blood is more 'purpley' in colour but not blue. NONE OF THE BLOOD CIRCULATING INSIDE YOUR BODY IS BLUE!!!
335943
Okay.... blood, in general, no matter what species it comes from is blue when it is oxygen deficient (in our veins)... and red when it has oxygen (in our arteries)... if a snake is cut open (while alive.... or right after being killed) then all of the blood will be red, regardless if you hit a vein or artery..... because when the blood is given oxygen it turns red.\n\n-Z
956240
For the patch of skin that was blue, sounds like poor circulation. That part was not getting circulated with blood and when you stood up and massaged it blood was getting back to that area.
1159357
the blood in your body is red. the appearance of the blue is the veins being close to the surface.\n\nBlood is *never* blue.  Blood is described as dark red (venous) or bright red (arterial).  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. The blood you see when you get hurt is usually venous blood.
339910
I would say red.  The brighter red the colour of the blood, the more oxygen it carries. The darker its color, the less oxygen it carries.  Arterial blood is generally a brighter red because it has recently passed through the lungs. Venous blood is generally a darker red because it has passed through the capillaries where the oxygen is transferred from the blood to the tissues.\n\nSome people think that blood inside the body is blue but this myth probably started when someone drew a chart of the human blood system and colored the arteries red and the veins blue. This myth has been around a long time and seems to have a life of its own.
628386
Yes.  Sometimes the blood isn't very red at the beginning and the end.  Expect it to be weird before it gets regular- just keep supplies with you just in case and keep track of it.
539773
No, this is a very common myth. Blood is always red. When in an oxygen poor stage it assumes a red color that is not as intense as the red of the oxygen rich stage. The blue color comes from looking at your deoxygenated blood through layers of skin as well as the veins.
956109
In humans and other hemoglobin-using creatures, oxygenated blood is bright red. This is due to oxygenated iron in the red blood cells. Deoxygenated blood is a darker shade of red, which can be seen during blood donation and when venous blood samples are taken. However, due to an optical effect caused by the way in which light penetrates through the skin, veins typically appear blue in color. This has led to a common misconception that venous blood is blue before it is exposed to air. Another reason for this misconception is that medical charts always show venous blood as blue in order to distinguish it from arterial blood which is depicted as red on the same chart.
4645
because of water vapor (in the air...gives it a blueish hue.  not much to due with physics... maybe chemistry.
806918
Where does it appear blue? Never heard of that!
66496
Numbness, coldness, tingling and discoloration (a blueish hue) in your extremeties. If you have discoloration or prolonged numbness, call a doctor NOW!  Also if you press on your foot or hand or some part you think isn't getting good circulation and it doesn't turn back to it's normal color immediately, then you have bad circulation.
60350
I have looked and seen.\nThe blood of most animals you are familiar with is red.\n\nYou are most familiar with oxygenated blood which is bright red. When you cut yourself the blood that leaks out is in contact with oxygen in the air and becomes oxygenated.\n\nDeoxygenated blood is a darker red.\nThe deoxygenated blood in veins is NOT visible just by looking at your skin. What you are seeing is the colour of deoxygenated blood viewed through the layers of tissue of the vein walls.\n\n'Blue blood' does not exist except for convenience in diagrams to distinguish it from the oxygenated blood in other parts of the diagram. The other common misconception is the use of 'blue blood' to describe aristocracy - cut of their heads and there is lots of bright red blood!\n\nHOWEVER - there ARE some animals (but none you are likely to have heard of) that do have blue blood - the oxygen is carried on copper rather than on iron.
1112275
It comes into contact with oxygen.
169978
actually CRIP colors r just blue b cuz they beleive that the blood in our body is blue...... the BLOODS color is red b cuz they believe the blood in our body is red....but in all honesty its a proven fact that blood is blue inside our body but once we r cut and blood hits oxygen it turns red. look at ur wrists and everywhere ur veins are at - u can c the blue blood.
310376
Why so blue?\nBecause they contain a lot of salt. Your body has a lot of salt in it.  Blood, sweat, tears, lymph... all salty
484554
Oxygenated blood is bright red (the color when you get a cut and bleed), unoxygenated blood is brick red-the color of the blood in the tube when you get blood drawn.  Veins and arteries are *not* blue- there isnt anything colored blue in the circulatory system.  The reason the veins look blue is because of the effect skin has on preferentially letting certain colors through (blue) and blocking others (yellow and red).  So when you look at your veins, you are looking through a colored filter-the skin.\nWith carbon monoxide, blood becomes almost neon-red.