It's Your Blood Trivia Quiz

Answer: 5.0 liters or about 5.3 quarts

The metric system is normally used for scientific measurements and by that system the total blood volume in the human adult is about 5 liters. This about 5.3 quarts.

Answer: Serum

The clotted blood includes the platelets, nutrients, minerals and other blood cells. The liquid in clotted blood is the serum. When blood is prevented from clotting and allowed to settle or spun in a centrifuge, it also separates into two components. The straw-colored liquid portion of unclotted blood is the plasma, which constitutes about 55 percent of whole blood.

Answer: O positive

Thirty-seven (37) percent of the population are 'O positive'. Thirty-four (34) percent are 'A positive' and ten (10) percent are 'B positive'. Each of the other four blood types involves six percent or less of the remaining population.

Answer: Platelet

Neutrophils actually fight bacteria and their numbers are seriously decreased in patients receiving cancer chemotherapy. The basophils constitute only one percent of the white blood cells and their function is not well known. The eosinophils increase in persons with significant allergies.

Answer: About 5 to 6 million

The number is slightly lower in females. The erythrocytes contain a protein called hemoglobin which carries oxygen to the tissues and returns to the heart and lungs with carbon dioxide and other gases.

Answer: 120 days

The human body constantly makes new red blood cells and if one donates a pint of blood, the amount is replaced very rapidly. However, the chemical process for creating the hemoglobin molecule requires an adequate supply of iron, folic acid and other vitamins.

Answer: Increased number of erythrocytes

Pilots, mountain climbers and vacationers to the mountains may develop an 'acute high altitude sickness' from anoxia of the hypoxic type. This is due to the decreased oxygen concentration in the atmosphere and the O2 pressure is too low to completely saturate the hemoglobin.

However, for those born at high altitudes or who have adjusted to the high altitude, the body compensates by increasing the number of erythrocyes. Inhabitants of the Andes mountains may have red blood counts of 10 million or more per cu. ml.

Answer: Forms a platelet plug at a wound.

The platelets are colorless, vary in shape and have a sticky exterior membrane. When there is bleeding from a wound, the platelets accumulate at the site of the injury and by reacting with calcium, vitamin K and fibrinogen forms a plug to stop the bleeding and this becomes a scab. Platelet accumulation on the walls of the coronary arteries is an undesirable action. Aspirin is taken to decrease platelet accumulation on a plaque in the coronary artery.

Answer: Lymphatics

As blood passes through the capillaries the pressure forces some of the liquid plasma through the membranes and into the lymphatic system. The lymph drains into a network of lymph nodes containing lymphocytes and macrophages, which remove waste material and foreign bodies from the fluid. An excess accumulation of lymph in the legs results in lymphedema.

Answer: Urea

A by-product from the metabolism of proteins is urea. This is picked up by the blood and carried in the plasma. When the blood passes through the kidneys the urea is removed into the urine. Excessive accumulation of urea results in uremia.