The components of the blood

and their jobs

What is blood made up of?
Red blood cells
White blood cells
Platelets
Plasma
Breakdown products of digestion, such as
glucose, fatty acids and amino acids
Dissolved mineral salts
Carbon dioxide
Urea
hormones
What is plasma?
Plasma is the liquid part of the blood
which carries everything else.
Plasma is a straw-yellow coloured liquid
If everything in plasma was removed,
plasma would look like this

What do the different parts of blood
look like under a microscope?
Red
blood
cells
White
blood
cells
What is the job of red blood cells?
They have a round, flat disc
shape for a large surface area
They do not have a nucleus
They contain haemoglobin
which combines with oxygen
in areas of high concentration
to form oxyhaemoglobin
Oxygen + haemoglobin oxyhaemoglobin
Red blood cells carry oxygen
to the cells of the body for use
in respiration
What do white blood cells do?
White blood cells
help the body to fight
invading bacteria

White blood cells will
engulf and ingest
invading bacteria

Other important jobs of the white
blood cells:
They produce
antibodies which can
recognise and fight
bacteria
They produce
antitoxins which
neutralise the toxins
(poisons) that
bacteria produce,
which make us feel ill

What do platelets do?
Platelets are fragments of cells
The job of platelets is to help blood clot and
form a scab
The platelets are involved in the formation
of fibrin, which is needed for clotting blood
This is useful for stopping bleeding, and for
preventing germs from entering the body
through the cut

Summary of the composition of blood
Questions on the blood
What part of blood carries oxygen to cells?
Why are red blood cells flat disc-shaped?
What is the job of platelets?
What do white blood cells do?
Describe how a white blood cell carries out its
job.
What is the straw-coloured liquid which carries
all the other parts of blood called?

More questions on blood






Name cell A
Name cell B
B
A