Stringing Together My Intestines

1. In this lab we used string and multi colored ribbons to estimate the length of our digestive system from out mouth to our large intestine. For each part we mapped out we measured it relative to our own body. For all but the small and large intestine we measures it against our body but for those two we had to use our height to estimate how long they are. By doing this we saw for ourselves how much fits inside our bodies and how much our food has to go through for our body to get everything it can from it.

2. My "intestines" were about 964 centimeters long, of course that is not a perfect number, and I am 5'9" making me 175.26 centimeters. seeing that my intestines are a little less than 6 times longer than I am is shocking but also fascinating. Our bodies can store all of that because our intestines are fairly small in diameter and they are folded in on themselves over and over in a pretty gross game of organ Tetris. 

3. I think that food takes about 5-6 hours to completely go through your digestive system. According to MayoClinic.org food takes approximately 24-72 hours to fully move through your system so I was very far off. Fiber and physical activity are two large factors in how long food takes to go through. Too little fiber causes the food to lose too much water making it slower and physical activity stimulates the movement of your organs so it will make it faster. 

4. Digestion is the more physical breakdown of the food while absorption is the taking all of the nutrients from the food after it has been broken down enough to go through the folds of the small intestine. Digestion mainly involves the mouth and the stomach and absorption mainly includes the small and large intestines.

5. I want to learn more about the bacteria that are in the large intestines because that is a really cool concept. I also want to learn more about the exact science of the small intestine.