THE FIRST STEP

Im a sandwich and the first step of my trajectory is being chewed by the teeth. The job of the teeth is to start tearing and crushing me down into small enough pieces so that I can fit down the throat. The salivary gland in located underneath the back of our tongue. It creates our saliva or spit. This helps soften the me in the mouth so that it is easier to swallow. Saliva is also the first of several chemicals that start to break down me into simpler forms. The last step in the mouth is the tongue, it is a muscle that works with the me and the saliva to form a "ball" that can be swallowed easily. Of course, the tongue also contains taste buds that helps the person tell the difference between salty, sour, sweet, and bitter foods. For example Im a sandwich so the person that ate me can taste all my flavors. After all this things have happened in the mouth, the I can be swallowed and can continue my journey around the digestive system

THE SECOND STEP

When the person swallowed me(a ball of food), after Im swallowed I can see that really the only thing that happens when you swallow is that a trapdoor in our throat closes, this is called the epiglottis. This sends food, like me down the esophagus and prevents it from going down the trachea (or windpipe) and into the lungs which can cause people to choke. Im pushed down the esophagus by the muscles not by gravity.

THE THIRD STEP

After being pushed down the esophagus I land in the stomach. The stomach uses its chemicals to make me even tinier. This chemicals are called gastric juices and they include hydrochloric acid and enzymes (chemicals that break down food). Im moved around in the stomach and mixed with the chemicals for about 3 or 4 hours. When Im done in the stomach, I now are a cream-like liquid call chyme. But Im still not small enough the get into the blood stream and Ive not provided anything to the body yet. Now a valve at the end of the stomach opens sending the food past the liver, my next adventure.

THE FOURTH STEP

Once Im in the liver alot more chemicals hit me. The liver makes a chemical called bile but bile is not stored in the liver. Instead it is stored in the gall bladder. When the gall bladder mixes bile with me, it does an important job: breaking down the fat into tiny droplets. This fat will supply the person that ate me with much energy later.

THE FIFTH STEP

Now Im in the pancreas. The pancreas also adds a digestive chemical as I leave the stomach. This digestive juice works on breaking down the carbohydrates, my bread and the protein, the ham Im filled with.

THE SIXTH STEP

Now Im in the small intestine. It is 7 metres long. This is where the real digestion takes place. As the I pass through, Im mixed with the new chemicals and soon our Im digested small enough to be put to use by the body. Along the walls of the intestine are thousands of tiny fingers called villi. Blood vessels (capillaries) in the villi can absorb the my tiny molecules and send them off to the rest of our body through the blood.

THE SEVENTH AND LAST STEP

Finally Im in the large intestine. Anything that cannot be put in use in the body is sent to the large intestine. This intestine is trying to take all the water out of me. All the water that has been taken out of me is sent to the blood stream. I spend about 12 hours in the large intestine where I become feces and later I leave the body through the anal opening when the person that ate me goes to the bathroom. Ive spent an average of 12-48 hours.