Adventurous Airlines: A Journey into the digestive system

It's not exactly a picnic!

All Aboard Adventurous Airlines! Your pilot and co-pilot, Clyde Chyme and Pepper Pepsin, will be guiding you through the Digestive System. Feel free to take pictures and buckle your seat belts as we dive into the digestive tract. 

Let's go!

Our first stop along the way is the mouth! Look out the window to your left and you will see the teeth! Food enters through the mouth, the first part of digestion, and teeth chews your food. Mechanical digestion is a long word but it basically means that food is chewed, mixed, torn, churned, cut, and mashed by your teeth.

A different process is called chemical digestion, this means saliva in your mouth that has the enzyme amylase breaks down starches and carbohydrates inside your mouth.

Amylase is so stringy!

Have you ever wondered what is in your mouth? There's a mixture of mucus and serous fluids that make up your Saliva!

Enzymes are so cool too! They break down food molecules into their building blocks, from the mouth to the stomach to the small intestine.

The esophagus is a food tube that links the stomach to the diaphragm. It opens to receive the bolus. Peristalsis is a process to move food down the esophagus by alternating waves of muscle contraction

Bolus is food that has been chewed up and mixed in the mouth with Saliva.

Also, the epiglottis is a flap that blocks food and liquids from entering the windpipe

Bolus is a fun word to say "Bol-Us"

Where are we going next?

The Trachea is also called the Windpipe! If you look over to your right you'll notice that we're headed straight past this large tube on our journey into the digestive tract. The trachea extends from the larynx to the bronchial tubes

Hang on Tight!

Looking at the trachea out the window, we can see the  cartilage rings that reinforce this long tube. It's a bumpy ride but take in the view! We're headed to the stomach now!