Digestive System Flashcards
What is food made from?
Food is made from large molecules which cannot be absorbed into the blood
Where does food come from?
Plants or other animals
What is the digestive system?
organ system that has the function to take in food and make it available for the rest of the body
The undigested food is passed out of what?
Anus
What is ingestion?
Ingestion is act of taking food into mouth
What is chewing?
food breaking down into smaller pieces and mixing with saliva
What does saliva contain?
mucus which helps moisten the food and enzymes which breaks down starch into simple sugar molecules
What are enzymes?
special substances (proteins) that speed up chemical reactions, used for many chemical reactions
What is the enzyme in saliva called?
Enzyme in saliva is called amylase and starts to work on digesting food in mouth
What do incisor teeth have?
Incisor teeth have sharp edge for biting and located in front
What do molar teeth have?
Molar teeth have wide surface with cusps to crush food
Where does the food go after the mouth?
Oesophagus
Where does the food go after it has been swallowed?
Stomach
What is the average time for the food to stay in the stomach?
4 hours
What does the churning of the stomach help with?
Churning of stomach helps physical breakdown of food and mixing it with gastric juice produced by stomach walls
What is gastric juice?
Gastric juice is mainly hydrochloric acid – kills microorganisms in food
Where does the acid mush go from the stomach?
Small intestine
Name some features of the small intestine.
many different enzymes break down large
molecules in food
Massive surface area (about 300m squared)
Absorption of digested food molecules
On surface, there are villi which stick out like many fingers
Soluble food is absorbed into blood by diffusion
Name some features of the large intestine.
Area where most water is absorbed into blood
Remainder of undigested food needs fibre to help it move smoothly through large intestine
Faeces stored in last part of large intestine and must be removed from body regularly – called egestion
Egestion is not the same as excretion
Is egestion the same as excretion?
No
