Mechanical and chemical digestion Get the Gizmo ready Click Reset and Clear screen Build a system with a Mouth Salivary gland Esophagus Pancreas and Rectum troduction Before nutrients are absorbed they must be broken down to their simplest components Teeth nd muscular contractions in the stomach break food down into smaller particles a process called mechanical igestion In the meantime powerful chemicals break down food in a process called chemical digestion Question How are nutrients broken down in your digestive system Set up the Gizmo Check that the current digestive system has a mouth salivary gland esophagus pancreas and rectum as shown above From the FOOD tab drag the Baked potato to the mouth A potato mostly consists of complex carbohydrates such as starch A View the ANALYSIS tab What is the initial value of complex carbohydrates B Click Play or Fastplay What is the final value of complex carbohydrates C How many Calories of complex carbohydrates were converted to sugars Explain how you know below The pancreas produces three digestive enzymes Amylase breaks down complex carbohydrates into simple carbohydrates sugars trypsin breaks down proteins into amino acids and lipase breaks down fats into fatty acids and monoglycerides Experiment Click Reset Move the Rectum Esophagus and Pancreas to the right and insert the Stomach so that the system looks like the image at right Click Play Fastplay A After digestion is complete what is the value of complex carbohydrates B How many Calories of complex carbohydrates were converted to sugars C Why do you think the results were different The muscular walls of the stomach churn food transforming food chunks into a thick liquid called chyme The nutrients in chyme break down more easily because they are exposed to digestive enzymes rather