The food pipe pushes

The idea

Saliva moistens chewed food and the tongue pushes it into the food pipe (oesophagus), whose walls contract and relax in a wave-like motion to push food to the stomach; this movement occurs throughout the alimentary canal.

Down the pipe

You can swallow food even when you are lying down.

How does food keep moving along the food pipe?

• The walls squeeze and relax in a wave
• Nothing pushes it
• The tongue stays inside the pipe and pushes

Swallow

Press Swallow. Watch the wall of the food pipe.

A wave of squeeze

Saliva made the chewed food soft. The tongue pushed it into the pipe. The wall squeezed behind the food and relaxed ahead of it, so the food moved down.

Saliva moistens chewed food and the tongue pushes it into the food pipe (oesophagus), whose walls contract and relax in a wave-like motion to push food to the stomach. This movement occurs throughout the alimentary canal.

Notes

Saliva moistens chewed food and the tongue pushes it into the food pipe (oesophagus), whose walls contract and relax in a wave-like motion to push food to the stomach. This movement occurs throughout the alimentary canal.

Check yourself

Besides helping digest starch, what does saliva do to chewed food?

What pushes the food down the food pipe?

Another name for the food pipe is the …

The wave-like motion of the walls happens …

• Makes it hard. Saliva moistens food and makes it soft and easy to swallow.
• Makes it hot. Saliva does not heat the food. It moistens it.
• Moistens it and makes it soft — correct. Yes!
• Walls that contract and relax in a wave — correct. Yes!
• A pump in the stomach. There is no pump in the stomach. The walls of the pipe contract and relax in a wave.
• Air from the lungs. Air from the lungs does not push the food. The wave-like motion of the walls does.
• windpipe. The windpipe carries air to the lungs. The food pipe is the oesophagus.
• oesophagus — correct. Yes!
• rectum. The rectum is the lower part of the large intestine.
• only in the food pipe. The same kind of movement carries on in the other parts of the canal as well.
• only in the mouth. In the mouth the teeth and the tongue work. The wave-like motion pushes food along the canal.
• throughout the alimentary canal — correct. Yes!