Digestive System Lab

In this lab, the goal was to visualize the actual length of the digestive tract. To do this, we measured different parts of our body to roughly determine what the actual length of the different parts of the system were. For example, to determine the length of the small intestine, we measured our height in inches and multiplied that measure by four. This lab enabled me to really understand the huge length of our digestive tract because it measures out to be much longer than we are tall. My digestive system is about 8 times longer than I am tall, so it is indeed a lot taller than I am. It is able to fit inside of me because it folds tightly together to conserve space. These folds increase the surface area of the tract to increase the rate of diffusion. I think that it will take about an hour for food to fully go through the whole digestive system. I was very wrong in my assumption. According to verywell.com, it takes about 50 hours for food to pass through the whole digestive system. This is very surprising to me because that seems like a very long time for it go through. That is way more time than it will take for a person to eat their next meal. So basically, a person will always have food inside of their body if they eat three meals per day. Factors that will influence the time it takes include absorption of the nutrients and the amount of fiber in the body. Digestion is different than absorption because digestion is mainly about breaking down food into smaller bits, while absorption is about taking in the nutrients form the food. Digestion includes the mouth, stomach, and liver. These organs work together to help break down food into its monomers. Absorption involves the small and large intestine. The intestines take in nutrients from the food as it passes through. This is why they are so long. I want to learn why metabolism slows down as a person grows older.

Digestive Organ	Color and length (cm)
Mouth	Maroon 10 cm
Esophagus	Purple 41 cm
Stomach	Green 17 cm
Small intestine	White 640 cm
Large intestine	Purple 159 cm
Total	867 cm