Digestion Flashcards
What are the two types of digestion?
Mechanical breakdown
Chemical digestion
What is mechanical breakdown?
If the food is large, it is broken down into smaller pieces by structures like teeth.
This provides a large surface area for chemical digestion.
What is the order of digestion?
- mechanical and chemical digestion, saliva is added
- The food goes into the oesophagus and peristalsis movements make the food go down
- The stomach churns up the food
- The food then goes into the small intestine, where food is absorbed into the blood stream
- Then into the large intestine, where water is absorbed
- Any remaining food exits via the anus.
What is the role of the pancreas?
Releases both hormones involved in blood glucose concentration and enzymes involved in digestion such as proteases, lipases and carbohydrates such as amylase
What is the role of the liver?
Produces bile and sends it to the gall bladder
What is bile?
The yellowish green liquid that emulsifies fats.
Emulsifying it by mechanically breaking fat up into smaller chunks, increasing the total surface area of the fat.
This allows lipase enzymes to chemically digest the fat more easily.
What is the role of the gall bladder?
Stores bile which is produced by the liver, concentrates it by removing water and then releases it into the duodenum (the top of the small intestine)
What is the function of the digestive system?
Breaks down larger, insoluble molecules of foods into smaller, soluble molecules for it to then be transported through the bloodstream.
What is the difference between mechanical and chemical digestion and where do these processes take place?
Mechanical digestion occurs in the mouth, it is when food is being physically churned up by the teeth in order to break it down into smaller molecules. It also moves it down to the stomach through peristalsis. Mechanical also makes bile emulsify fats into smaller molecules.
Chemical digestion is the use of enzymes to break the bonds between larger molecules to produce smaller, soluble ones.
What is the function of the mouth in digestion?
it breaks down food through mechanical digestion by churning it with teeth and mixing it with saliva containing enzymes and mucus.
What is the function of the oesophagus in digestion?
Directs food from the mouth to the stomach
What is the function of the rectum in digestion?
Stores faeces before expelled from the anus
What is the role of the gall bladder in digestion?
Where bile is stored before being released to the small intestine.
What is the role of the stomach in digestion?
Churns up the food with hydrochloric acid and stomach juices containing proteases.
What is the role of the pancreas in digestion?
Releases a number of digestive enzymes including amylase, lipase and some protease.
