• Question: is blood blue inside the veins?

    Asked by eringregg to Carol, Ellie, John, Philip, Rebecca on 29 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by zillage1, zugarplumfairy, dynamitefire.
    • Photo: Rebecca Lacey

      Rebecca Lacey answered on 29 Jun 2012:

      No blood is not blue inside our veins but it is a darker reddy colour because the blood in veins is “deoxygenated” which means that lots of the oxygen has been removed from it. Deoxygenated blood is found in vessels returning blood from the organs to the heart. The heart then pumps the blood round the pulmonary system (the system in the lungs) where it picks up more oxygen and becomes a brighter red colour again.

      The reason our veins look blue through our skin is called something called “Raleigh scattering” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayleigh_scattering

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