The Digestive System Flashcards
Ingestion/eating
Food is taken in by the body
Digestion
Food is broken down
What are enzymes
Enzymes are chemicals that speed up reactions without being used up in the reaction
What does the pancreas make
It makes digestive juices which contain enzymes
What are the two types of digestion take place in the mouth?
Physical digestion and chemical digestion
What is physical digestion
Physical digestion is the breakdown of food using mechanical or physical methods.
What is chemical digestion
Chemical digestion is the breakdown of food using enzymes (or hydrochloric acid in the stomach).
What is the oesophagus
The oesophagus, or food pipe, is a muscular tube.
What is the function of the oesophogus
It forces food down from the mouth to the stomach using a wave of muscular action (called peristalsis). Peristalsis also pushes food through the rest of our intestines.
What is the stomach and how does it work
The stomach is a muscular bag that holds food tor a few hours.
Name 2 functions of the small intestine
• Digestion
• Absorption.
Name a function of the large intestine
The large intestine takes water back into the bloodstream (reabsorbs water). The semi-solid waste material left in the large intestine is called faeces.
• If too much water is taken back, the waste becomes too solid, in a condition called constipation.
• If too little water is taken back, the waste becomes liquid and we suffer from diarrhoea.
