Week 1 Reflection

Hello, I am Ryan Lee from 2H(2010). For my first week of reflection, I have studied Digestion.

Digestion is the process in which food is broken down in the digestive system into substances needed by the body. Digestion is takes place in the digestive system. The digestive system consists of 5 stops, which I will elaborate on later. In the digestive system, all parts play an important role, in breaking down the food that we eat.

 Stop 1: The Mouth

As we all know, we all need food to survive, and food enters our body through the mouth. Therefore, the first stop in the digestive system is our mouth. When food enters our mouth, our teeth chew the food, breaking it down physically into smaller pieces. This plays a part in ensuring that more surface area is exposed for faster break down. Saliva is then mixed with the food. The saliva contains digestive enzymes and amylase. The tongue also helps with digestion, rolling smaller pieces of food into small balls. From this, we can see that food is digested physically and chemically in the mouth. The semi-digested food then moves on to the second stop...

Stop 2: The Gullet

To simply describe the gullet, it is a tube which connects the mouth to the stomach. The gullet does not play a part in breaking down the food, yet is vital in the digestive system. The gullet is made up of strong muscles, which push the food by contracting and relaxing. The action is in an involuntary movement called peristalsis. The food is pushed on into the third stop...

Stop 3: The Stomach

Welcome to the third stop, the stomach. The stomach is an expandable bag made up of muscles. It is expandable to help take in different amounts of food. The muscles in the stomach mix the food with a digestive juice called gastric juice. Gastric juice consists of proteases and hydrochloric acid. Proteases digest protein from the food into amino acids, while hydrochloric acid provides the acidic condition in the stomach need for the proteases to work, and also kills any bacteria which may have been digested with the food.

Stop 4: The Small Intestine

The small intestine is the fourth stop in the digestive system. It is also the place where most of the digestion takes place. There are many folds and finger-like projections called villi on the inner surface of the small intestine. The villi increase surface area in the small intestine, helping it to absorb more digested food. Water, vitamins and mineral salts are also absorbed in the small intestine. The food finally moves on to the last stop in the digestive system...

Stop 5: The Large Intestine

The undigested food finally moves on to the last stop, the large intestine. The large intestine absorbs water from the undigested food. The remainder of the undigested food is known as faeces. The faeces is later removed from the body as waste, known as defaecation.

This is the end of my 1st week's reflection. I have truly learned a lot from my first week of studying digestion. I will now continue on my learning targets for this project. Bye!