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Blood in your veins is not blue – here's why it's always red

  • Written by Marisia Fikiet, Ph.D. Student in Chemistry, University at Albany, State University of New York
Blood in your veins is not blue – here's why it's always redIs it always the same?Elnur/Shutterstock.com

Whenever you see blood outside your body, it looks red. Why?

Blood in your veins is not blue – here's why it's always redHeme is the part of the hemoglobin molecule that latches onto oxygen and then releases it to tissues around the body.Waikwanlai, CC BY

Human blood is red because of the protein hemoglobin, which contains a red-colored compound called heme...

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