Science Common Sense

39 - How does the digestive system work?

The digestive system is like a long broken-down factory inside your body that turns the food you eat into energy. Here's how it works:

1. Mouth: You eat food and your teeth chew it into small pieces. Your saliva helps break it down.
2. Esophagus: The food goes down a tube (esophagus) into your stomach.
3. Stomach: Your stomach is like a big mix-master. It squishes and mixes the food with special juices that break it down.
4. Small intestine: The broken-down food goes into the small intestine, where tiny tiny things called villi absorb the nutrients (good stuff) into your bloodstream.
5. Large intestine: The leftover waste goes into the large intestine (colon), where water is absorbed and the waste gets ready to come out as poop.
6. Poop: Finally, the waste comes out through your anus, like a conveyor belt!

That's the whole process. Your body uses the energy and nutrients it gets from the food to do all the cool things you do!