Digestion
Contents
Key Stage 3
Meaning
Digestion is breaking down food into smaller pieces so it can be absorbed into the blood stream.
About Digestion
- Digestion is done by the digestive systems of animals.
About Digestion in Humans
- Digestion begins in the mouth where teeth break the food into smaller pieces.
- It continues in the stomach where chemicals known as enzymes are added to break down large molecules into smaller ones.
- Digestion then continues in the small intestine where large molecules continue to be broken down.
- Finally, when the molecules are small enough, the small intestine absorbs the nutrients into the blood stream.
Key Stage 4
Meaning
Digestion is the process of breaking down large insoluble molecules in food into small soluble molecules that can be absorbed into the blood stream.
About Digestion
- There are two main types of digestion; mechanical digestion which is to break food down by a mechanical process like chewing and chemical digestion which is to break down large molecules into smaller ones using enzymes.
About Digestion in Humans
- Digestion begins in the mouth where teeth break the food into smaller pieces in a process called mastication.
- Digestion continues in the stomach where digestive enzymes are added to break down large insoluble molecules into smaller soluble ones.
- Digestion then continues in the small intestine where large molecules continue to be broken down by digestive enzymes.
- Finally, when the molecules are small enough, the small intestine absorbs the nutrients into the blood stream.
References
AQA
Edexcel
- Digestion, specialised cells for, page 8, GCSE Biology, Pearson, Edexcel
- Digestion, specialised cells for, page 8, GCSE Combined Science, Pearson Edexcel