How We Conducted Research on the Digestive System

In lab we did an activity to see how the digestive system works, it was fun and a very informative way of learning about it.I am a visual person and this was a great way to explain it and made a lot more sense after seeing it rather than just talking about it. I participated during the activity so I was not able to take notes on exactly was the objects and foods that were used.

Why is the digestive important? It helps in the breakdown of food into nutrients.

Our body needs nutrients to repair and build itself.If we did not have our digestive tract our body could not grow or make energy or get rid of the waste. The important nutrients are then absorbed into the bloodstream and the waste is eliminated. It also lets our brain know we are hungry. How we know we are hungry is when our body secretes hydrochloric acid and it irritates our stomach and causing us to feel the pain of hunger.

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Digestive system also protects us from any bad bacteria that we might take in with raw foods. Once it lands in the digestive system the bacteria and other pathogens get destroyed. The destruction of these pathogens start in the mouth our saliva enzymes which will kill them if any them escape and continue the route by the time they make it to the digestive system they are completely destroyed by the acids pH which is about 1.5.

How does the digestive system work? It all begins in the mouth buy chewing/breaking down the food enough to be able to swallow it.

Our salivary glands will secrete saliva that will change some starches into sugars to soften the food for swallowing. Saliva also activates the taste buds to taste the food. From there by a voluntary action the food gets passed down to the pharynx where involuntary action happens.Then it is taken down to the esophagus a long hollow tube which will take the food and liquids to the stomach. When we are sick it can do the opposite bringing it all back up from the stomach. Esophagus has two sphincters the upper which is involved in swallowing and breathing the lower prevents stomach acid from wanting to come back up. Acid reflux is a condition when the lower sphincter does not close completely and can cause serious problems in the future. Now we move to the small intestine it connects to the stomach on one side and the large intestine on the other. It is where 90% of absorption and digestion occurs. About 20 feet long! There are three sections to the small intestine upper part is called the duodenum it receives partially digested food from the stomach. Bile enzymes from other organs help to further breakdown the food. The middle part is called jejunum and the last section is called ileum. Both are made up of folds that contain villi for further absorption. Ileum then absorbs mainly B12 vitamin bile salts and many other minerals. Whatever was not absorbed it is then moved to the large intestine(colon) which is where reabsorption of water and formation of faeces occur.

The rectum is what connects the colon to the anus and holds faeces then sends messages to the brain to let us know that we are ready to eliminate gas or stool. There are sphincters in the rectum as well. If we want to start the process of elimination sphincter muscles relax and rectum contracts if not ready yet sphincters contract and rectum relaxes that is how we can go a while without. The anus is the final stage of the digestive tract the muscles relax rectum releases and the anus opens up to eliminate the waste. This was a rundown on how our digestive system works it takes about 6-8 hours for this to happen from start to finish.