Home▸Medical Technology & Imaging Physics▸The Chloride Shift: How Red Blood Cells Carry Carbon Dioxide Without Changing Blood pH

🔄 The Chloride Shift: How Red Blood Cells Carry Carbon Dioxide Without Changing Blood pH

Explore the Hamburger phenomenon (chloride shift), the elegant ion-exchange process that lets red blood cells transport carbon dioxide as bicarbonate while keeping blood pH remarkably stable.

Medical Technology & Imaging Physics3DModerate60 FPS⚡ Plasma

This simulator visually demonstrates the chloride shift in action, showing carbon dioxide entering red blood cells, its conversion to bicarbonate via carbonic anhydrase, the band 3 antiporter exchanging bicarbonate for chloride, and hemoglobin buffering hydrogen ions in tissue capillaries versus the reverse process in the lungs.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

🎮 How to Use

Toggle between the tissue capillary and lung capillary environments to watch the exchange run forward or in reverse, and use the step controls to follow each ion and molecule through carbonic anhydrase, the band 3 transporter, and hemoglobin binding.

💡 Did You Know?

Did you know that because of the chloride shift, venous blood plasma actually has a slightly different chloride concentration than arterial blood plasma, a real and measurable difference used in clinical blood chemistry interpretation.

⚙ Under the hood

Explore the Hamburger phenomenon (chloride shift), the elegant ion-exchange process that lets red blood cells transport carbon dioxide as bicarbonate while keeping blood pH remarkably stable.

physiologyrespiratory-systemhemoglobinacid-base-balancecarbonic-anhydrasered-blood-cellsgas-transportbiochemistry

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install