How the digestive system works

Question 1

The digestive system is one of the most diverse and complicated systems in the human body. How many cells does the system contain?

Answer 1

20 specialized cell types

Question 2

a twisting channel that transports food and has an internal surface area of between 30 and 40 square meters, what is this?

Answer 2

gastrointestinal tract

Question 3

a trio of organs that break down food using an array of special juices.

Answer 3

pancreas, gallbladder, and liver.

Question 4

they work together to break down food, modulate the digestive process, and deliver its final products.

Answer 4

the body’s enzymes, hormones, nerves, and blood.

Question 5

a large stretch of tissue that supports and positions all your digestive organs in the abdomen, enabling them to do their jobs.

Answer 5

mesentery

Question 6

this thing in your mouth pumps out saliva

Answer 6

glands

Question 7

how many liters of saliva do we produce each day?

Answer 7

1.5 liters

Question 8

once the food is in the mouth, chewing combines with the sloshing of saliva to turn food into a moist lump called the?

Answer 8

bolus

Question 9

this thing present in the saliva will break down any starch.

Answer 9

enzymes

Question 10

food will travel down of a 25-centimeter-long tube called the?

Answer 10

esophagus

Question 11

nerves in the surrounding esophageal tissue sense the bolus’s presence and trigger?

Answer 11

peristalsis

Question 12

hormones, secreted by cells in the lining, trigger the?

Answer 12

release of acids and enzyme-rich juices

Question 13

these hormones also alert the _ to produce digestive juices and transfer bile, a yellowish-green liquid that digests fat

Answer 13

pancreas, liver, and gallbladder

Question 14

after three hours inside the stomach, the once shapely bolus is now a frothy liquid called?

Answer 14

chyme

Question 15

the liver sends bile to the gallbladder, which secretes it into the first portion of the small intestine called the?

Answer 15

duodenum

Question 16

it dissolves the fats floating in the slurry of chyme so it can be easily digested by the pancreatic acid and intestinal juices that leached onto the scene, what is this?

Answer 16

duodenum

Question 17

the _ break the fat molecules down into the fatty acids and glycerol for easier absorption into the body.

Answer 17

enzyme-rich juices

Question 18

the enzymes also carry out the final deconstruction of proteins into amino acids, carbohydrates into?

Answer 18

glucose

Question 19

this happens in the small intestine’s lower regions, the _, which are coated in millions of tiny projections called the villi.

Answer 19

jejunum and ileum

Question 20

leftover _ sloughed off during digestion make it into the large intestine, also known as the colon.

Answer 20

fiber, water, and dead cells.

Question 21

the body drains out most of the remaining fluid through the?

Answer 21

intestinal wall

Question 22

what’s left is a soft mass called?

Answer 22

stool

Question 23

the colon squeezes out this byproduct into a pouch called the?

Answer 23

rectum

Question 24

the byproducts of digestion exit through the?

Answer 24

anus