How do we swallow food? Detailed answer

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How do we swallow food? Detailed answer

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How do we swallow food?

The process of swallowing food is very complicated. It involves nerve cells, muscles, ligaments and various glands. In this case, the pharynx, tongue, epiglottis, soft palate, tongue, lips, nose, lungs, diaphragm (abdominal obstruction), abdominal muscles and, finally, the brain are involved. First of all, at the command of the brain, the teeth bite off and grind food, moistened with saliva. The tongue knocks food into the so-called food lump.

When we start to swallow, the soft palate at the back of the mouth rises and closes the passage to the nasal cavity so that food cannot enter there. The food then enters the throat. Here is the entrance to the windpipe (trachea). To prevent food from getting there, the epiglottis, which is a cartilage located at the root of the tongue, descends and closes the entrance to the larynx. Then the food bolus enters the esophagus - a tube about 25 centimeters long.

The esophagus has muscular walls, and food is pushed through it as a result of their contraction. Liquid passes through the esophagus very quickly, and the passage of a food bolus through it takes about 8 seconds. Thus, swallowed food does not just fall into the stomach by itself. For its passage through the esophagus requires muscle effort. Therefore, while eating, you can not hang your head down.

What causes muscles to contract when we swallow? On the walls of the digestive tract there are nerve endings that react to the presence of food. When it touches the walls of the tract, these nerve endings are stimulated and it is they that cause the contraction of the muscular walls of the esophagus, due to which food is pushed into the stomach.

Author: Likum A.

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

What part of the earth is water?

Even though seven-tenths of the earth's surface is covered with water, in the entire mass of the planet, water makes up a little less than one-fiftieth of a percent.

The earth is heavy and weighs 6 million billion billion kilograms. Half of this weight is contained in its lower mantle - a massive semi-molten layer that begins at a depth of 660 km from the earth's crust. Even on the watery crust of the Earth, the mass of land is forty times greater than the mass of all its oceans.

In 2002, the journal Science published the results of a Japanese experiment that suggests that five times more water is dissolved in the Earth's lower mantle than is sloshing on the surface.

Using high pressure (200 kg/cm) and temperature (1600°C), the Japanese created four mineral compounds similar to those found in the lower mantle. After that, they were placed in water and measured how much these minerals absorbed.

If scientists are right, then the water fraction of our world will have to be adjusted upwards - up to 0,1%.

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