Digestive System Flashcards
What is the purpose of the digestive system?
The purpose is to break down your food.
Mechanical digestion what is it?
It happens in the mouth when the food is physically changed form
Chemical digestion…
Chemical digestion is breaking the food into simpler chemicals
What is the mouths job?
You mouth breaks the food down then the tongue pushes it down the throat or oesophagus.
The job of the oesophagus?
Pushing the food down in to the stomach. A flap of skin called epiglottis closes the wind pipe.
Stomach does what?
Food is stored there for about 1-6hrs. Once in the stomach the food has already started to transform. The muscles expand and contract to move the food around
What else is in the stomach?
In the stomach there is hydrochloric acid which kills bacteria.
There is also mucus which stops the stomach from digesting itself.
Finally there is digestive juices which start to digest proteins.
What does the small intestine do?
The walls of the intestines squeeze and churn the food breaking it down and making sure the digestive chemicals are mixed. There is also villi that are like little tentacles that catch the nutrients in your food which then goes into your body.
What does the large intestine do?
The large intestine is the final stage of you digestive system. It reabsorbs water and any left over nutrients.
