 |
|
Your Small Intestine
Once the chyme is ready, a valve opens in your stomach and releases the chyme into your small intestine. The small intestine is where most of the digestion process takes place. Although the slushy chyme is much more broken down than the original hotdog, the small pieces floating in the chyme are still too large to fit inside your cells. They must be broken down even further. |
As the chyme enters your small intestine it is mixed with a variety of chemicals, whose job it is to further break down the hotdog. Your liver adds a liquid known as bile which helps to neutralize the acids from your stomach, so that digestion can continue to take place.
|
|
|
By now, you are done playing with your friends, and are back at home watching television. The chyme is slowly moving further along in your small intestine. As it moves along, the process of digestion is almost complete. Your small intestine is lined with tiny folds called villi.
The muscles within your small intestine squeeze and roll the food about. As it sloshes around, these villi quickly absorb the nutrients from the chyme, leaving behind the materials that are not nutritious.
