Final answer:
After centrifugation, a blood sample from a patient who ate a fatty meal would have a stratified appearance with plasma at the top, a buffy coat in the middle, and erythrocytes at the bottom.
Step-by-step explanation:
After centrifugation of a blood sample from a patient who ate a fatty meal, you would expect to find three major components: plasma, leukocytes (white blood cells) and platelets, and erythrocytes (red blood cells).
The blood cells and platelets, which are denser than plasma, would settle to the bottom of the specimen tube. This would result in the formation of a buffy coat, a thin layer composed of the leukocytes and platelets, which normally makes up less than 1% of the blood sample. Above the buffy coat, you would find the plasma, which is the liquid component of blood.
In summary, after centrifugation, the blood sample would have a stratified appearance with plasma forming the top layer, leukocytes and platelets forming the buffy coat, and erythrocytes settling at the very bottom of the tube.