What Is the Differences Between White & Red Blood Cells?
Blood consists of several parts, including red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma. Each of these parts performs different functions within your body. Platelets are pieces in the blood that stick together when you have a wound to create clots. Plasma is the liquid part of blood that carries all the other parts in the blood vessels. Red blood cells are responsible for carrying oxygen and carbon dioxide through your body, while white blood cells play a big role in keeping you healthy.
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Color
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Red blood cells appear red because of the hemoglobin, a protein, within them. Much of hemoglobin is made up of the element iron. Since white blood cells do not contain hemoglobin, however, they appear clear or "white".
Life Span
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Red blood cells live considerably longer than white blood cells. A red blood cell has a life span of approximately one hundred and twenty days. A white blood cell, however, may last only a few days; at most, white blood cells go a few weeks.
Your bones constantly produce more red and white blood cells, but blood cells are circulated throughout your body until they die rather than being used only once.
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Amount
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There are more red blood cells in your blood at any given time than white blood cells. Red blood cells in a drop of blood number in the millions, while the same drop may contain somewhere between 7000 and 25,000 white blood cells. If you are sick, the number of white blood cells will increase. People with leukemia have an especially high number of white blood cells all the time.
Red Blood Cell's Function
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Red blood cells are responsible for carrying oxygen and carbon dioxide through your body, which is made possible by the iron in the hemoglobin. Oxygen in your lungs attaches to red blood cells as they pass through, then is released in your body's tissues. Waste gases, such as carbon dioxide, then are picked up by the hemoglobin to be transported to the lungs and breathed out.
White Blood Cell's Function
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White blood cells exist to destroy germs that enter your bloodstream, which is why the numbers increase when you are sick. White blood cells are circulated throughout your system to look for invading organisms. If there is such an organism in your body, the white blood cells either destroy it by consuming it or by producing antibodies to fight the invading organism.
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