• Question: is a scab made up of particles that have formed together? x

    Asked by hannah4edsheeran to Adam, Catherine, Karen, Leila, Nazim on 14 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Catherine Rix

      Catherine Rix answered on 14 Mar 2012:

      When you get a cut your immune system reacts to protect you from infection and special cells are transported to the site to kill any bacteria that get in through the cut. At the same time cells from your blood, called platelets, react with other proteins in your blood to make a clot which stops the bleeding. Scabs are made from a mixture of bacteria and immune system cells, and clotted platelets and proteins.

    • Photo: Adam Stevens

      Adam Stevens answered on 14 Mar 2012:

      Scabbing is really cool. Our blood has special stuff in it that reacts with the air to start clotting and prevent us from losing blood! Like Catherine says, one part of this is the platelets, but our blood also has stuff called fibrin in that reacts very simply with air to combine with platelets to make scabs.

      The fibrin actually polymerises (makes long chains) so your body is producing its own form of plastic to plug the wound!

    • Photo: Leila Battison

      Leila Battison answered on 19 Mar 2012:

      Yep, it’s made of things called platelets, which are really just old red blood cells that your body has kept going round in your body. When you cut yourself and you break the blood vessels, the platelets rush to the scene and all clog up to be the ‘first defence’ to stop you bleeding too much. Later, the blood thickens up and eventually you grow new skin, but the scab is made of those platelets.

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