The Digestive System

Question 1

What happens to the food that we eat?

Answer 1

The food that we eat has to be chewed and broken down into simple substances.

Question 2

What is the process of breaking down the food that we eat into simple substances called?

Answer 2

Digestion

Question 3

Define ‘digestion’.

Answer 3

Digestion is the process of chewing and breaking down the food that we eat into simple substances.
or
Digestion is the process by which food is broken down into simpler substances.

Question 4

Why do we eat food?

Answer 4

To obtain energy to do work and to enable the different systems in our body to function properly.

Question 5

Why is digestion important? or

Why must food be broken down into simpler substances?

Answer 5

So that they can be absorbed into the blood and carried / transported to different parts of the body.

Question 6

How is food digested?

Answer 6

Digestive juices in some organs of the digestive system act on food, breaking it down into simpler substances that the body can absorb.

Question 7

What are the organs that make up the digestive system?

Answer 7

1. mouth
2. gullet (oesophagus)
3. stomach
4. small intestine
5. large intestine
6. rectum
7. anus

Question 8

What do the organs that make up the digestive system form?

Answer 8

A continuous tube called the digestive tract, which starts from the mouth and ends at the anus.

Question 9

What is the digestive tract?

Answer 9

A continuous tube which starts from the mouth and ends at the anus.

Question 10

What does the digestive tract contain?

Answer 10

A layer of muscles to move food along.

Question 11

Where does digestion start / begin at?

Answer 11

In the mouth.

Question 12

What happens to the food in our mouths?

Answer 12

Food is chewed into smaller pieces. Saliva makes the food soft enough for us to swallow. The digestive juice in the saliva helps in the digestion process.

Question 13

What are the functions of saliva?

Answer 13

1. To make food soft enough for us to swallow.
2. To make the food wet and soft, so that it can be swallowed easily.
3. To break down some food into simpler substances as saliva contains certain digestive juices.

Question 14

What does our saliva contain?

Answer 14

Digestive juice that helps in the digestion process.

Question 15

How do our teeth help in the digestion process?

Answer 15

Our teeth chew food into smaller pieces. This helps to increase the surface area of food that digestive juices can act on.

Question 16

What happens to the soft chewed food in our mouths?

Answer 16

They are rolled into small balls and swallowed.

Question 17

What is the gullet also known as?

Answer 17

Oesophagus

Question 18

How does food move from our mouths into our stomach?

Answer 18

Through a tube known as the gullet.

Question 19

What is the gullet?

Answer 19

It is a tube that connects the mouth to the stomach.

Question 20

What does the gullet have?

Answer 20

The gullet has muscles to push the chewed food down into the stomach.

Question 21

What is the stomach?

Answer 21

The stomach is a muscular and elastic bag that produces certain digestive juices.

Question 22

What happens to the chewed food that has been pushed down by the gullet into the stomach?

Answer 22

Digestion of food continues inside our stomach. The food is digested further and mixed with other digestive juices.

Food is squeezed and mixed with the digestive juices to break down some food into simpler substances (the food then becomes a liquid-like substance).

Question 23

What happens to the further digested food, i.e. after food has become a liquid-like substance in the stomach?

Answer 23

It moves into the small intestine.

Question 24

What happens to the liquid-like substance (food) that has been moved to the small intestine?

Answer 24

More digestive juices are added to the food in the small intestine.

Question 25

Where is the digestion of food completed / finished at?

Answer 25

In the small intestine.

Question 26

What happens after the digestion of food is completed or finished in the small intestine?

Answer 26

The digested food can then pass through the lining / walls of the small intestine into (i.e. enters) the blood. The blood then carries the digested food to all / different parts of our bodies.

Question 27

What is the small intestine?

Answer 27

It is a long tube in which more digestive juices are added to break down ALL FOOD into simpler substances.

Question 28

What does our blood do to the digested food and other nutrients that are found in the small intestine?

Answer 28

Blood transports the digested food and other absorbed nutrients to the different parts of the body.

Question 29

What happens to the undigested food found in the small intestine?

Answer 29

The undigested food, i.e. materials that are not absorbed, moves or goes into the large intestine.

Question 30

What happens to the undigested food in the large intestine?

Answer 30

Water and mineral salts are removed from the large intestine.

Question 31

What is the function of the large intestine?

Answer 31

To absorb / remove water and mineral salts from the undigested food.

Question 32

What happens to the water and mineral salts that have been removed from the undigested food in the large intestine?

Answer 32

They pass through the wall of the large intestine and enter the blood.

Question 33

What happens to the undigested waste materials in the large intestine?

Answer 33

They are moved into the rectum and then passed out of the body through an open called the anus.

Question 34

What is the rectum?

Answer 34

The final part of the large intestine.

Question 35

What is the final part of the large intestine called?

Answer 35

The rectum.

Question 36

What is the function of the rectum?

Answer 36

It stores the undigested waste materials just before they are passed out of the body through the anus as solid waste or faeces.

Question 37

Is food digested in EVERY part of the digestive system?

Answer 37

No. Food is digested only in the mouth, the stomach and the small intestine.

Question 38

What is diarrhoea?

Answer 38

Passing out of loose or liquid stools.

Question 39

What causes diarrhoea?

Answer 39

Microorganisms that irritate the mucous membrane of the large intestine, resulting in an abnormally large quantity of water in our faeces (stools).

Question 40

Does every organ in our digestive system have its own function?

Answer 40

Yes. However, they must work together for digestion to take place smoothly.

Question 41

What must every organ in our digestive system do in order for digestion to take place smoothly?

Answer 41

Work together.

Question 42

What does our circulatory system do?

Answer 42

Send the digested food to different parts of our bodies to provide us with energy.

Question 43

How can germs get into our bodies?

Answer 43

Through the food that we eat. This can affect the digestion of our food.

Question 44

What can we do to prevent germs from getting into our bodies?

Answer 44

Wash our hands before a meal.