Hailey's bio blog : Digestive tract string model

The main takeaways from this lab are that the intestines make up the majority of the digestive tract, specifically the small intestine. This is where the majority of absorption takes place so there must be plenty of surface area for the nutrients to be absorbed through.

My digestive tract is roughly 5.4 times longer than my height. This can fit into my abdomen by being folded up on itself. This squishes it into my abdomen. The small intestine is long but it is not very wide also allowing for more room.

I think it takes a day to move through to my body. I came to this answer because I know it takes a horse 3 days but they have a fermentation process to break down the cellulose, which takes the majority of their time. So I took out a couple days for our diet filled with less complex carbs. It actually takes 1-3 days. The amount of water you drink changes this time, the type of food you eat impacts it too. If the food is bad it may cause diarrhea and go faster than this. A diet with too little water makes the feces hard and dry and it moves slower.

Digestion is when the food is broken down into its basic nutrients both physically and chemically. The Mouth and stomach help to physically digest the food to make the chemical digestion easier. The stomach, saliva, pancreas and liver all secrete enzymes that chemically break down the food. Absorption is the process of taking the nutrients and taking them for use in the body. The small and large intestine are responsible for this. The small intestine absorbs the nutrients and the large absorbs the excess water from the digested food.

The Digestive system really fascinates me and I want to gain all the knowledge I can on it. The specific question I have are as follows:
Should we wash our food?
Why don't all species have reverse peristalsis?
Why do we need to pump people's stomachs?
Why are teeth close together unlike a dog who's a little spacier?
Does pepsin or HCl burn in vomit?
How to we break down the DNA in food for us to use?
Where do probios help? Why don't they die?
Does eating things off the floor/ unwashed/ dirty places help your immune system?