"The digestive system is like a series of tube-like organs." BREAKING DOWN FOOD
There are two types of digestion- mechanical digestion and chemical. Mechanical is more of a breaking, crushing, mashing motion of food, while chemical is where the large molecules are broken down into nutrients. The three main nutrients are Carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Nutrients are broken down into small particles that the body can use by enzymes. TEETH AND THE TONGUE
The outer layer of the teeth is called the enamel, which is the hardest substance in the body. After being mashed into a mushy substance it is pushed into the down the throat by the tongue, through the esophagus, and into the stomach. The stomach is a prime example of mechanical digestion. Muscles in the stomach digest the food by contracting while the tiny glands in the stomach produce enzymes and acid. These two actions disolve the food into usable nutrients. Stomach acid also kills many types of harmful bacteria. After a couple hours, that sandwich you ate has been turned into a soupy substance called chyme. EXITING THE STOMACH A valve, which is really just a ring of muscles, keeps the digestive fluids in the stomach until it is chyme. Then it slowly releases it into the small intestines. *Proteins, carbohydrates, and fats are digested by the small intestines and fluid from the pancreas. PANCREAS Right after the chyme leaves the it enters the small intestines. Chyme is very acidic, but fluids from the pancreas help protect the small intestines. The fluid contains enzymes which chemically digest chyme. |
SMALL INTESTINES
There is a muscular tube in your body about 2.5 centimeters in diameter called a small intestines *If you flatten it out while it is lied down, it would be as big as a tennis court! The inside of the small intestines is covered in villi, which are like tiny nutrient absorbing fingers. After absorption, nutrients enters the bloodstream. LIVER AND THE GALLBLADDER Liver helps with the digestion and can be as large as a football. The liver makes bile to break up fat. The gallbladder is a sac-like organ that is used as a temporary storage unit for bile. Bile gets squeezed out of the stomach to break up fat particles. STORING NUTRIENTS AND PROTCECTING THE BODY Nutrients that aren't needed at the moment are stored in the liver, then the nutrients are released as needed. The liver also breaks down alcohol and drugs. THE END OF THE LINE The large intestines takes the most of the liquids and the food and makes it into a semi-solid material called feces. Whole grains, fruit, and vegetables contain material that can't be digested. This is referred to as fiber, fiber keeps the stool soft so it can pass through the large intesines. It takes food about 24 hours to leave your digestive system. |
CLEANING THE BLOOD
When your body does everything it can to keep you alive,it produces wastes. You urinary system removes these wastes from your blood stream. Your kidneys have blood cycle through them 350 times a day. In each kidney there are about 1,000 microscopic filters called nephrons. The most important things that nephrons remove is call urea, which has nitrogen and is produced when your cells use protein for energy. WATER IN, WATER OUT You lose water everyday by urine and sweat,and if you don't get the right amount of water, you swell up. When you get hot, your body sweats to cool down, if you don't drink water you will run out of sweat. ANTIDUIRETIC When you get hot your kidneys react to the ADH hormone. This hormone tells the kidneys to take existing water from the nephrons. When the blood has too much water, tiny amounts of ADH are released, telling the nephrons to withhold more water. When a beverage contains caffeine, the kidneys produce more urine. Caffeine is a diuretic which causes the kidneys to produce more urine, and this decreases the amount of water in the blood. URINARY SYSTEM PROBLEMS The urinary system monitors the removal of wastes from the blood and body fluids. Bacteria can get into the bladder, through the urethra and can cause major pain and infections. If not treated it can permanently damage the nephrons. Sometimes wastes collect inside the kidneys and create kidney stones. Some kidney stones pass through the urinary system naturally, but others require to be removed from the by surgery. |
Digestive System
The digestive tract is a series of tube-like organs;the pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestines, large intestines, rectum, and the anus. The liver, gallbladder, pnacreas, and salivary glands are also part of the digestive system, but food does not pass through them.