Question: What is the difference between white blood cells and red blood cells?

Hi chantel!

White blood cells and red blood cells are both made in your bone marrow but there are several differences between white and red blood cells.

Red blood cells (RBCs) lack a nucleus when they are mature- because their main function is to deliver oxygen around the body. They are filled with haemoglobin (which gives them a red pigment and is made of iron). We call them “erythrocytes” – erythro = red, cyte = cell but actually they’re technically not even cells because they don’t have a nucleus! (Instead they are ‘red blood corpuscles’ – not as catchy!) Red blood corpuscles are smaller than white blood cells and you have more of them in your blood. You produce over 2 million RBCs per second which live for about 3 months before being destroyed by your spleen and liver.

White blood cells (WBCs) are called “leukocytes” – leuko = white, cyte = cell because they don’t have any colour, unless we stain them with special dyes. White blood cells are larger than RBCs have a nucleus and you actually have at least 5 different groups of white blood cells – lymphocytes, eosinophils, neutrophils, monocytes and basophils. WBCs are important for fighting infections and release chemicals which help to identify pathogens or kill them. We have fewer WBC than RBCs and WBCs live on average for a few days.

There are many more fascinating differences about RBCs and WBCs: https://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-the-difference-between-red-and-white-blood-cells.htm

Hope this helps to answer your Question!
🙂