Science 13 Flashcards
Explain the different functions of the incisors, canines, and molars.
Incisors cut food like a knife, while canines tear it like a fork. The molars crush and grind food.
What teeth are the last ones to come in? What are they commonly called?
Your third set of molars is the last to come in, and those molars are often called your wisdom teeth.
What are the four functions of saliva?
It starts the chemical digestion, moistens food, allows you to taste things, and helps kill pathogens that might be on the food.
Describe what the soft palate and the epiglottis do when you swallow something.
The soft palate blocks the opening between the throat and nose so that food doesn’t go up your nose. The epiglottis blocks off the larynx so that food doesn’t enter the trachea.
What is the wet ball of food that is swallowed called?
It is called a bolus.
If you were standing on your head and swallowed something, would it go to your stomach? Why or why not?
Yes, it would. The smooth muscles of the esophagus push the food to the stomach. It doesn’t matter where your stomach is relative to your mouth.
What are sphincters?
They are rings of muscle that open and close things like the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, etc.
Why must the acid in the food be neutralized in the small intestine?
In which organ of the digestive tract does most of the digestion take place?
For the mouth, esophagus, stomach, and small intestine indicate whether chemical digestion, physical digestion, both, or neither happens in each.
For the mouth, esophagus, liver, stomach, pancreas, small intestine, gall bladder, and large intestine, indicate whether each is part of the digestive tract or an accessory digestive organ.
What do the gastric rugae allow the stomach to do?
How are soap and bile similar? Why is that important for the digestion of fat?
What two things happen to the chyme when it reaches the large intestine?
What do the intestinal villi do for absorption of nutrients in the small intestine?
The body uses the chloride ion for certain functions. Does that mean the kidneys will never take chloride from the blood? Why or why not?
No. The kidneys will remove chloride ions if they are at too high a concentration.
One kind of physician is called a nephrologist. What does this doctor specialize in?
He or she specializes in kidneys.
Compare how the kidneys clean blood to how some people clean out their junk drawer.
If your urine is unusually thin and not very yellow, have you been drinking more or less water than usual?
You have been drinking more water than usual.
