Blood Types

The major types of blood are A, B, AB, and O. A parent has 2 letters in his or her blood type and passes one of them on to a child. Each parent passes on a letter for the blood type, so a parent with an AA type and a parent with a BB type would only have an AB type child.

Transfering blood from one person or storage to another person is called a transfusion. A person can only take blood that works with his or her body. For example, type O can be given to anyone, and people with an O blood type are called Universal Donors. Type AB can take any type of blood into itself, and thus people with an AB type are Universal Recipients. The bodies of people with type A recognize A as ok to be inside it, but type B blood would set the bodies defenses into action. This works the same way with people with type B blood.

"Negative" and "positive" in a blood type refer to whether an RhD antigen exists in a person's blood cells. This is important for transfusions because a person who is negative (lacking RhD) will produce antibodies to combat the RhD on the new blood's cells.

Blood Types Lab

During the blood types lab, I found that the simulated blood took a little while to react with the serums. I had given up on a reaction occuring and moved on to the next step, and when I came back a few minutes later, the serum had caused precipitation!

Here are my results: