Essay The Chemistry of the Human Digestive System

The digestive system absorbs the minerals and nutrients from the foods that have been eaten. The break down of food beings in the mouth, where the

The esophagus receives food from the mouth after swallowing and then delivers it to the stomach. The stomach holds food which it is being mixed with enzymes which continue the process of breaking down the food into a useable form. When the contents of the stomach are processed they are released into the small intestine. In the small intestine food is broken down by enzymes released from the pancreas and bile from the liver, the food is moved through and mixed with digestive secretions. The small intestine is made up of three segments the duodenum, jejunum and the ileum, the jejunum and the ileum are mainly responsible from the absorption of nutrients in to the bloodstream. These contents start out semi-solid and end in a liquid form after passing through the organ. Water, bile, enzymes and mucous change its consistency, one the nutrients have been absorbed it then moves onto the large intestine. The large intestine connects to the rectum and is specialised in processing water so that emptying the bowels is easy.

Digestion starts in mouth and it is going through several steps. Teeth which are a Mechanical digestion start tearing and crushing the food down into small pieces so that the food will smoothly run down our throat. The salivary glands are located underneath the back of our tongues and that’s what is creating our saliva. The saliva is the Chemical Digestion is helping soften the food in the mouth so it is easy to swallow. Also saliva is the first out of several chemicals that is breaking the food into smaller bits. The tongue is the muscle that works with the food and saliva to form something similar to balls that can be swallowed. Also tongue contains taste buds so that we know if the food is salt, sweet, sour or bitter. Esophangus is a simple transportation tube that is joining the throat with stomach. When swallowing we are closing a trap door in our throats called the epiglottis. By closing this trap we are preventing the food prom going to trachea and into our lungs. Also Food moves down the esophangus using muscles not gravity. Stomach is the first stop after the Esophangus. When the food gets into stomach the stomach uses chemicals to try to make the food smaller. These chemicals are called gastric juices and they include hydrochloric acid and enzymes. (Enzymes are

The digestive system of a pig is classified as monogastric or non-ruminant, which is having a stomach with only a single compartment, like humans. In addition, the digestive tract of the pig has five main parts, including the mouth, esophagus, stomach, and small and large intestines. Furthermore, the mechanical breakdown of the food begins upon the entrance of the mouth in the digestive tract. Basically, the food is grinded into smaller pieces by its teeth. Next, saliva is produced in the mouth, acting to moisten the small food particles, along with an enzyme that starts the digestion of the starch. Then, the food is pushed towards the esophagus with the help of the tongue. Primarily, the esophagus carries the food from the mouth to the stomach, being a tube, which is carried out with the help of a series of muscle contractions that push the food towards the stomach. Subsequently, after the first of the contractions, swallowing, has taken place, the cardiac valve, located at the end of the esophagus, prevents food from passing from the stomach back to the esophagus. Likewise, the stomach comes next in the digestive tract; it serves as a reaction chamber, adding chemicals to the food. Also, hydrochloric acid and enzymes help break down food into small particles of carbohydrates, protein, and fats. Additionally, some particles are absorbed into the bloodstream, from the stomach, while others cannot be absorbed by the stomach, being passed to the small intestine through the pyloric valve. Moreover, the small intestine aids

The process of digestion first begins in the mouth by in taking food (bolus). The teeth help with masticating (chewing and breaking food particles down) allowing for swallowing and increasing surface area for chemical digestion. Enzymes found in saliva also facilitates with the chemical break down of food primarily starches and fats. The food swallowed then enters into the esophagus (a tube connecting the mouth and stomach). Peristalsis helps the esophagus to push the food in the direction of the stomach. The stomach contents are highly acidic (doesn’t affect the stomach mucosa since cells secrete mucus allowing the stomach wall to be protected) with pH levels between 1.5-2.5 allowing microorganisms to be killed, breaking down of food, and activating digestive enzymes producing a thick substance known as chyme. However, breaking down of foods further occurs in the small intestine consisting of: bile created from the liver, enzymes formed from the small intestine, and the pancreas facilitate with further digestion as well as HCI denatures (unfolds proteins) allowing them to be available to attack by digestive enzymes (also responsible in breaking down the protein). The pyloric sphincter separates the stomach from the small intestine allowing the chime to drop into the small intestine. The small intestine is the primary site for

There aren’t many compartments the food has to travel through. Food travels down the esophagus into the stomach, where it is met by stomach acid and food is broken down and passed through the small and large intestine, nutrients are absorbed, and the waste is

Gulp. Your favorite food, right in front of you. Mouth watering and eyes glued to the plate. A big inhale and the smell is even better than it looks. You just cannot wait to dive in and devour it, but how does one recognize what your favorite food is by just a sniff? Or what happens after you chew and swallow that meal? Mary Roach,“America’s funniest science writer”, will take you through the gates of the digestive system and explain everything one would ever want to know and more about what happens in the depths of the alimentary canal.

Food is digested by being broken down, by a variety of enzymes, into useful nutrients, which are transported around the body to places where they can be of use, and into waste products, which are excreted from the body. The digestive system is made up of a number of organs, oesophagus, stomach, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, and small and large intestines, these are then separated into the digestive tract and the digestive organs. The digestive tract is, essentially, a single continuous tube that begins at the mouth and ends at the anus, in a fully grown adult it is approximately seven metres long. Food travels through the digestive tract and the digestive organs produce the enzymes and chemicals that are responsible for

In this lab, I will study how digestion of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats occurs. I will define Key Terms that describe what will occur in the experiments; I will conduct an experiment for each Activity and provide all resulting Data as well as answer Questions from each Activity. I will then provide a short Summary for what I learned in each Activity.

The stomach is an influential organ within the digestive system that converts the entered bolus into a semi-liquid paste like substance called chyme before it progresses further into the small intestine. This process is attained through the interplay of stomach muscles which churn the food and the mixture of gastric acid, mucus and digestive enzymes. There are numerous substances found in the stomach which contribute to the digestive process such as parietal cells that create hydrochloric acid and intrinsic factor, exocrine cells that produce mucus, chief cells and G cells. These substances aid in the chemical digestion process which represents the chemical alteration of larger molecules into its smaller subunits. Among the various substances,

Digestion starts in the mouth. Chewing mechanically breaks down the food with saliva. Saliva moistens the food and is an essential enzyme for the digestion of starch. Saliva contains ptyalin, which is capable of breaking down starch into simpler sugars such as maltose and dextrin that can be further broken down in the small intestine. About 10-15 seconds after chewing has begun, the food bolus passes through the pharynx and in the oesophagus. When you swallow, the epiglottis closes to prevent the food from entering the respiratory system. The soft palate closes to prevent food from entering the nasal cavity.

The digestive system is very important in digesting food and breaking it down so it can be digested easily. The digestive system turns food into energy. Throughout the process there are nutrients which are absorbed. There are many things that contributed to the digestive system such as the mouth which produces saliva which helps to break down food and nutrients such as carbohydrates with the help of an enzyme called amylase. The major food groups which are called macro nutrients include carbohydrates, proteins and fats. All of these nutrients play an important role in the body. There are also many micro-nutrients which include vitamins and minerals which provide the body with health and well-being. The digestive system is made up of the mouth, which includes the teeth (the teeth are used to cut and grind food into smaller pieces, they contain blood vessels and nerves), tongue (the tongue is a muscle that has a rough surface including the taste buds), salvia glands (they produce salvia which moistens the food to make is easier to digest), the pharynx (this helps the food travel to the stomach, the pharynx also plays an important role in the respiratory system. It also contains 2 different flaps to separate the 2 functions), esophagus (this connects the pharynx to the stomach and transports chewed food to the stomach), stomach (this is a muscle that is

The stomach is an expandable muscular sac that is capable of holding 2-4 liters of food and liquids and breaks them down with the use of pepsinogen, an inactive form pepsin, a protein-digesting enzyme. If the stomach was damaged or dysfunctional, then it would be harder to gradually release food into the small intestine at a rate suitable for proper digestion and absorption and to digest the food because it is not as small or digested because the stomach also assists in the mechanical and chemical breakdown of the food as well as the killing of harmful bacteria due to the high acidic environment due to the hydrochloric acid. (Audesirk, T., & Audesirk, G. (1999). Retrieved November 21, 2015 from Chapter 29: Nutrition and Digestion. In Biology:

Get ready for the dangerous ride of a banana getting crushed, smashed, and absorbed through the digestive system. “Watch out for the involuntary muscles which they can’t even control and voluntary muscles they can control, but will still use thriving to help get our nutrients by crushing us.” everyone has always said but, that didn’t stop him. Once Banana was ripe enough the farmer has picked him. Banana thought is was chosen for an amusement park. because everyone else says it’ll be like a scary rollercoaster, he took it literally…

You use your mouth to chew your food, causing it to break down in pieces hence using the process of mechanical digestion, and you also use your mouth to form an enzyme known as amylase, or saliva which breaks down your food chemically, for instance when your saliva touches the bread from your sandwich it begins to form into sugars. Incase you did not know “enzymes are chemicals that are used to break down foods into other chemicals”. Saliva can also help you swallow the food by lubricating and “breaking down the complex carbohydrates into simple carbohydrates.”