7.

2 Alimentary Canal
Mechanical Digestion:
Breaking down of large, insoluble food to small food
particles through chewing
Chemical Digestion:
Breaking down of large, insoluble food molecules into
small, water-soluble molecules through digestive
enzymes
Hydrolysis reactions = breakdown with water, catalyzed
by enzymes (opposite = condensation)
Peristalsis = wave-like muscle contractions that push
the bolus down towards the stomach and throughout the gut
*(reason why fiber is important as peristalsis cannot occur if food is too liquid)

Saliva contains
amylase:
Starch maltose

Bile (made in liver & stored in gall

bladder):
1. Contains hydrogen carbonate
which neutralize acidic chime
from stomach
2. Emulsifies fats (convert large
gobules of fats into smaller oil
droplets) this helps to

Intestinal juice: Various enzymes

inc.
Maltase (Maltose glucose)
Trypsin, erepsin, lactase, lipase,

7.2 Alimentary Canal

Stomach secretes Gastric

juice: (Acidic)
1. Hydrochloric acid
a. Kill bacteria
b. Provide optimum pH
for pepsin & stop
amylase
2. Mucus
a. Protects wall lining
of the stomach
3. Pepsin (protease enzyme)

Pancreatic juice contains:

(Alkaline)
1. Pancreatic amylase
Starch maltose
2. Trypsin (protease enzyme)
polypeptides amino acid
3. Lipase
Fats fatty acids +

Mechanical Digestion:
______________________________________
________________________________________________________
Chemical Digestion:
________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Hydrolysis reactions = breakdown with ______________,
catalyzed by ________________ (opposite =
__________________)
Peristalsis = ________________________________________
that push the bolus down towards the stomach and
throughout the gut
*(reason why fiber is important as peristalsis cannot occur if food is too liquid)

Saliva contains
_________:
____________

Bile (made in liver & stored in gall

bladder):
1. Contains _________________ which
______________ acidic chyme form
stomach
2. _______________ fats (convert large
gobules of fats into smaller oil
droplets) this helps to increase

Intestinal juice: Various enzymes

inc.
Maltase (Maltose glucose)
Trypsin, erepsin, lactase, lipase,

Stomach secretes Gastric

juice: (Acidic)
1. ____________________
a. Kill bacteria
b. Provide optimum pH
for pepsin & ______
amylase
2. _____________
a. Protects wall lining
of the stomach
3. ___________ (protease

Pancreatic juice contains:

(Alkaline)
1. ______________________
Starch maltose
2. ___________ (protease
enzyme)
_____________ amino acid
3. __________

MASTERY MODEL
7.2 Define
ingestion = the taking of substances, e.g. food and drink, into the body
through the mouth
mechanical digestion = the breakdown of food into smaller pieces without
chemical change to the food molecules
chemical digestion = the breakdown of large, insoluble molecules into small,
soluble molecules
absorption = the movement of small food molecules and ions through the wall of
the intestine into the blood
assimilation = the movement of digested food molecules into the cells of the body
where they are used, becoming part of the cells
egestion = the passing out of food that has not been digested or absorbed, as
faeces, through the anus
Diarrhoea
Diarrhoea: loss of watery faeces
Treatment of Diarrhea: using oral rehydration therapy (replenish salts &
water)
Cholera - disease caused by a bacterium
Cholera bacterium produces a toxin that causes secretion of chloride ions into
the small intestine, causing osmotic movement of water into the gut, leading to
diarrhoea, dehydration and loss of salts from blood
7.4 Chemical digestion
1. State the significance of chemical digestion in the alimentary
canal in producing small, soluble molecules that can be absorbed
2. State the functions of enzymes as follows:
amylase breaks down starch to simpler sugars
protease breaks down protein to amino acids
lipase breaks down fats to fatty acids and glycerol
3. State where, in the alimentary canal, amylase, protease and
lipase are secreted
4. Describe the digestion of starch in the alimentary canal:
amylase is secreted into the alimentary canal and breaks down
starch to maltose
maltose is broken down by maltase to glucose on the membranes of the
epithelium lining the small intestine
5. Describe pepsin and trypsin as two protease enzymes that
function in different parts of the alimentary canal:
pepsin in the stomach
trypsin in the small intestine
6. State the functions of the hydrochloric acid in gastric juice,
limited to killing bacteria in food and giving an acid pH for
enzymes
7. Explain the functions of the hydrochloric acid in gastric juice,
limited to the low pH:

 denaturing enzymes in harmful microorganisms in food

giving the optimum pH for pepsin activity
8. Outline the role of bile in neutralising the acidic mixture of food
and gastric juices entering the duodenum from the stomach, to
provide a suitable pH for enzyme action
9. Outline the role of bile in emulsifying fats to increase the surface
area for the chemical digestion of fat to fatty acids and glycerol
by lipase