MadSci Network: Anatomy |
zs, Your question is interesting expecially because you seem to have answered it by using the term heterogeneus mixture. Blood is a colloid because large protein components with large wet-able carbohydrate groups form a colloidal suspension (behaving like both a solution and a suspension). Some of the colloidal molecules like fibrin, are capable of reacting to specific stimuli released by damaged cells and this precipitates enzymatic action and polymerization of fibrin into clot (a gel that behaves both as a colloid and a solid). Blood contains salts that are completely dissolved and broken down into positive and negative ions (true solutions). And, blood is also a suspension of platelets, red blood cells, and white blood cells consisting of neutrophils, lymphocytes and monocytes.
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