1. The Digestive System

2. How Food is digested Digestion involves:
Breaking down of food into smaller pieces(mechanical or chemical)
The mixing of food
Movement through the digestive tract

3. Digestive System Description
The digestive tract is a series of hollow organs joined in a tube from the mouth to the anus. Food passes through the digestive tract.
Accessory organs include the liver, gall bladder, and pancreas. Food does not pass through these organs.

4. Identify the organs of the digestive system

5. Mouth
Teeth bite off and chew food into a soft pulp that is easy to swallow.
Chewing mixes the food with saliva, from salivary glands around the mouth and face, to make it moist and easy to swallow.

6. Mouth Enzymes in the saliva begin digestion of carbohydrates.
Mechanical digestion - teeth
Chemical digestion – saliva
11 cm long

7. Esophagus
The esophagus is a muscular tube. It takes food from the throat and pushes it down through the neck, and into the stomach.
It moves food by waves of muscle contraction called peristalsis.
About 25 cm long

8. Stomach
The stomach has thick muscles in its wall that contract to mash the food into chyme.
Strong digestive juices in the lining of the stomach cause a chemical breakdown of food and dissolve nutrients.
About 22 cm long

9. Small Intestine
This part of the digestive tract is narrow, but very long - about 20 feet or 690 cm.
Food is broken down into small enough pieces so nutrients can be absorbed into the blood(diffusion) and taken to vital organs.
Enzymes continue the chemical reactions on the food.

10. Large Intestine Absorbs extra nutrients and water
Forms wastes into solid feces
About 125cm long
Gastrodigestivestsytem.com

11. Rectum and Anus
The end of the large intestine and the next part of the tract; the rectum stores the feces.
Feces are finally squeezed through a ring of muscle, the anus, and out of the body.
Gastrodigestivestsytem.com

12. Pancreas
Makes digestive juices called enzymes which help to digest food further as it enters the small intestines.
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13. Gall Bladder A small baglike part under the liver.
Stores a fluid called bile, which is made in the liver.
It helps to digest fatty foods and also contains wastes for removal.
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14. Liver The liver is like a food- processing factory
Blood from the intestines enters to the liver bringing nutrients
It stores some of what it receives.
Changes it into another form or releases the nutrients back into the blood
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15. For more information about the digestive system, click here