The Digestive System Lab

1) In class today, we measured out different parts of our digestive system in ribbon to demonstrate the total length. I realized that the small intestine is much larger than the rest of the digestive system, likely because so much digestion occurs in the tract.




2) My height in meters is around 1.5, while my entire digestion system is much larger. I think my digestive system is able to fit because of how much it bends and squishes together. Also much of it is hollow, which is better because it takes up less space.


3) I think that it takes around 4 hours for the food to travel through the tract. When I looked it up online, MayoClinic said that it takes around 6 to 8 hours, which is much longer than I previously expected. The bends in the digestive tract definitely influences the speed of digestion and the kind of food eaten can definitely affect digestion. For example, foods with more fiber will take less time to digest.


4) Digestion is different from absorption in that digestion breaks down the food, thus releasing nutrients. On the other hand, absorption takes in the nutrients broken down. The mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, pancreas, gallbladder, colon, rectum, and anus are involved in digestion. The small intestine, liver, and stomach are involved in absorption.

5) What are the enzymes involved in the small intestine?