The Digestive System at Work

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The Digestive System at Work
Unit The Human Body Systems Grade 4 Information
taken from http//kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/digestiv
e_system.html
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• What happens to your food
• after you take a bite?

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First stop on the tour

• The Mouth
• Food is broken down into smaller bits
• Includes
• Teeth
• Tongue
• Saliva

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The Teeth

• Help by tearing, crushing, and grinding food
• Not bones
• 20 milk teeth or baby teeth
• 32 adult teeth

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The Taste Buds
Salty
Sour
Sour
Salty
Sweet
Bitter
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Tongue Saliva

• Pushes food around while chewing
• Pushes ball of food (bolus) to back of throat
  for swallowing
• Taste buds help us experience tastes

• Saliva (spit) forms when you see, smell, or even
  think about food.
• Has enzymes to break down chemicals in food
• Makes food mushy and easy to swallow

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All Aboard! Next Stop the Esophagus

• Stretchy tube
• About 10 inches long
• Connects mouth and stomach
• Muscles in the wall slowly push food down
• Takes 2-3 seconds

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And on to the Stomach

• Stretched from hotdog sized to a large balloon
• Walls have strong muscles and release gastric
  juices.
• Gastric juices kill bacteria in food

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Stomachs 3 Jobs

• Store food youve eaten

2. Break down food into liquidy mixture called
chyme
3. Slowly send the liquidy mixture on to the
small intestine
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The Small Intestine

• Stretched out its 22 feet long
• Food can spend 4 hours here
• Gets enzymes from pancreas, liver, and
  gallbladder
• Breaks down food to even watery mixture
• Nutrients absorbed here

Thats Long!
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Were almost through!

• The Large Intestine or Colon
• Fatter than small intestine
• Only 5 feet long
• Last chance to absorb water and nutrients
• Waste is leftover

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The Final Flush!

• The solid waste is properly called stool
• (or yes, poop)
• Leaves the L. intestine
• Enters the Rectum
• When rectum is full, stool is pushed out through
  the Anus
• FLUSH!

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Weve followed the path of a burger as it travels
through the body

• Do you remember what happens in each location?

• Mouth
• Esophagus
• Stomach
• Small Intestine

• Large Intestine
• Rectum
• Anus