The Digestive System

Question 1

What is a large molecule that is a string or sequence of smaller repeated building blocks, like amino acids strung together to make a polypeptide chain?

Answer 1

Polymer

Question 2

What are the teeth, tongue, salivary glands, gallbladder, liver, and pancreas called, which function to break down food but aren’t actually part of the GI tract?

Answer 2

Accessory Digestive Organs

Question 3

What kind of tissue lines the inner portion of the GI tract: the stomach and small intestines?

Answer 3

Simple Columnar Epithelium

Question 4

What is another name for the gastrointestinal (GI) tract?

Answer 4

The Alimentary Canal

Question 5

What is the outer layer of the digestive tract organs that is made of layers of smooth muscle to squeeze and shorten the tube?

Answer 5

Muscularis Externa Layer

Question 6

What is the act of using enzymes to break down chemical bond in ingested food?

Answer 6

Chemical Digestion

Question 7

What is a single molecule or building block that may be repeated in a chain or sequence to form a much larger biological molecule?

Answer 7

Monomer

Question 8

What is the second layer of the digestive tract organs, which is mostly loose areolar connective tissue for elasticity, and lots of blood vessels?

Answer 8

Submucosal Layer

Question 9

What is the act of moving ingested material through the GI tract, mostly by peristalsis?

Answer 9

Propulsion

Question 10

What is the act of breaking down food into smaller particles without chemically altering it? (Performed by chewing and stomach churning)

Answer 10

Mechanical Digestion

Question 11

What are the special proteins that are required to run and speed up virtually every chemical reaction in the body?

Answer 11

Enzymes

Question 12

What kind of tissue lines the two ends of the GI tract, in the mouth, pharynx, and some of the esophagus at one end, and the anus at the other?

Answer 12

Stratified Squamous Epithelium

Question 13

What is the wave-like contractions of the smooth muscles around the GI tract that propel ingested material from one end to the other?

Answer 13

Peristalsis

Question 14

What are the foods we eat, breakdown, and synthesize including lipids, carbohydrates, proteins, and nucleic acids?

Answer 14

Biological Molecules

Question 15

What is the innermost layer of the digestive tract organs, which is made of simple columnar epithelium backed by connective tissue and secretes mucus?

Answer 15

Mucosal Layer

Question 16

What is the act of moving monomers from the lumen of the GI tract, across the cells lining the tract, to the bloodstream?

Answer 16

Absorption

Question 17

What is a calorie?

Answer 17

One calorie is a measurement of the amount of energy it takes to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree celcius.

Question 18

Why do we eat food?

Answer 18

1. To obtain the energy we need to stay alive
2. To get the raw materials required for building all of our tissues.

Question 19

What is the last function of the digestive system? (Getting rid of ingested indigestible substances like fiber)

Answer 19

Defecation