digestive system Flashcards
Mouth
Teeth chew food into smaller pieces. Saliva lubricates the food to help in swallowing. Amylase in saliva starts to break down starches into glucose.
Oesophagus
It takes about five seconds for food to pass through your oesophagus to your stomach. Smooth muscles squeeze in waves of contractions called peristalsis which moves the food around.
Stomach
Food stays in your stomach for about 4 hour. Here it is mixed with hydrochloric acid that lowers the ph in the stomach and helps protease begin the digestion of proteins. It is now no longer called food it is chummed into a thick liquid called chyme.
pancreas
Adds digestive enzymes in the small intestine.
Small intestine
Most of digestion takes place in the duodenum, the first part of the small intestine. A greenish fluid called bile is added. Which acts like a emulsifier to break down fats. By now, the chyme has been broken down into small molecules ready to be absorbed by the villi. The small intestine molecules of nutrients pass into the blood vessels of the villi.
large intestine
Food passes into the large intestine. Excess water is absorbed into the large intestine.
Anus
Faeces is then eliminated through and opening called the anus.
Rectum
A mixture of waste material, bacteria, and mucus are passed to the rectum where the mixture is compacted and readied for elimination. This could take up to two days.
Villi
Hair like features in the small intestine, Absorbs nutrients and contains blood vessels
Liver
Produces bile