Digest This!

- Digestive System Lab

Essential Question: What happens to the food you eat at lunch?

Activity #1: Mechanical vs. Chemical Digestion
Think about the differences weve learned between mechanical and chemical digestion, and what
they do to help our bodies break down the food we eat into nutrients our body can use.

1) Below, create a Double Bubble thinking map comparing and contrasting the two types of digestion:
mechanical and chemical.
Include: where each takes place
which organs in the digestive tract carry out mechanical digestion
which organs carry out chemical digestion
which organs do both






mechanical chemical
digestion digestion











Activity #2: Digestion in the Mouth, Part 1
A. Each person in the lab group needs two unsalted soda crackers from the teacher.
B. Chew the crackers for two minutes without swallowing.

2) What physical changes did you notice about the crackers? What chemical changes (changes in
taste) did you notice about the crackers? How would you describe the taste as you chewed the
crackers? Record your observations below:




Activity #3: Digestion in the Mouth, Part 2
A. One person from the lab group should get two suckers from your teacher. Unwrap both suckers.
B. Put one sucker in your mouth. Place the extra sucker in a 250 mL beaker half full of water. Set the
beaker aside.
C. Keeping your mouth closed, you may suck on but NOT chew the sucker. Without chewing, record in
Data Table 1 the time it takes for the sucker to completely dissolve in your mouth from start to finish.
Record the time it took for the sucker to dissolve in water from start to finish. (You may need to go
on to the next activities while waiting)
D. When finished, record both your stopping and total times.

3) Data Table 1
Start Time Stop Time Total Time
Sucker dissolving in mouth
Sucker dissolving in water

4)Which sucker dissolved first? What caused that sucker to disappear?




Activity #4: Hands on Digestion (stomach)
A. Get 2 plastic sandwich bags and 2 crackers from the teacher. You also need a 100 mL graduated
cylinder. rs.
B. Place one cracker in each bag. Carefully pour 60 mL (1/4 cup) of vinegar into each sandwich bag.
C. Designate one bag to represent No Muscular Action (stomach 1) and the other bag to represent
With Muscular Action (stomach 2).
D. Taking note of the time, observe the contents of stomach 1. Record your initial observations under
No Muscular Action in Data Table 2. Place the bag off to the side and check/record observations
again in 5 minutes. Try not to move the bag too much as you make your observations.
E. Take stomach 2 and gently squeeze the bag 6 times being sure not to rip or accidently open it.
Record your initial observation under With Muscular Action in Data Table 2. Place the bag off to the
side. Each time you check the bag squeeze it 6 more times, then record your observations. Record
your observations every 5 minutes.
F. While waiting, go on to Activity #5, but watch your time carefully!

5) Data Table 2
Time Observation No Muscular Action Observation With Muscular Action (BAG
: (BAG 1) 2)
Initial
(Steps 1-5)




Trial 1
(After 5
minutes)

Trial 2
(After 10
minutes)

Trial 3
(After 15
minutes)


6) Why did we add vinegar to the bags?


7) What differences did you see between the two bags?


8) Which stomach did a better job digesting the crackers? Why?



Activity #5: How do Villi aid the Small Intestine in Absorption?
A) Get 4 paper towels per group, two 250 mL beakers, and a 100 graduated cylinder.
B) Using the graduated cylinder, pour 100 mL of water into each beaker.
C) In the first beaker, dip one folded paper towel. In the second beaker, dip 3 folded paper towels
D) Wait 30 seconds, and record the volume of water left in the cup (using a graduated cylinder) in
Data Table 3.

9) Data Table 3
Beginning amount of water Remaining water in cup
1 paper towel


3 paper towels



10) Which paper towel had the largest surface area?


11) Which cup had the least amount of water remaining? Why?


12) How is this like how villi in our small intestine help our small intestine absorb more nutrients?


Activity #6: How Long is the Digestive System?
You will measure, using a meter stick, and construct a representation of the length of your digestive
tracts using yarn, scissors, and tape.
A. Take a piece of yarn (red), measure, and cut from the back of your ears to the front of your lips to
get the length of your mouth.
2. Take a piece of yarn (orange), measure, and cut from the bottom of your chin to bottom of your
sternum to get the lengths of their esophagus.
3. Take a piece of yarn (yellow), measure, and cut from your thumb to your pinkie to get the length of
your stomach.
4. Take a piece of yarn (green), measure, and cut from your heads to your feet and multiply that by
four to get the length of your small intestines.
5. Take a piece of yarn (blue), measure, and cut from your heads to your feet once to get the length of
your large intestines.
6. Connect the pieces of yarn using tape, and measure the total length of the yarn to get the
approximate total lengths of your digestive tract.
7. Record the different digestive tract lengths in the class in Data Table 4. Record your groups
average on the Smart Board and in Data Table 5. Create a Bar Graph to compare the average
digestive tract lengths of lab group to lab group. Dont forget to label your x-axis and y-axis!

13) Data Table 4
Names Measurement (inches)















Average



14) Data Table 5
Lab Groups Average Measurement
(inches)






















15) Bar Graph