Blood - A question of SF

[den]

What would be a reasonable alternative to iron in blood? Would cobalt or manganese work? What colour would the blood be?

Comments

[makovette.livejournal.com]

Oxides of Manganese are dark grey to black iirc. Cobalt is most famously blue. I dunno the chemistry well enough off the top of my head to create a non-ferrous substitute for hemoglobin.

Look at the valence electrons of your candidate metals and see if you can cook up something semi-viable. Depends on the atmosphere the critter is breathing really. Cynide and Methane "blood chemistry" has been worked out iirc.

CYa!
Mako

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

I'm working on a race that are Human (all the bits are in the same places) but have a different chemistry.

I always wondered how aliens could all eat the same food. I reckon they wouldn't have the same protiens or enzymes to digest them, and what's harmless to one could be dangerous to another.