Question

What is a mechanical digestion?

Answer 1

Mechanical digestion involves the movement of muscle and bodily 'mechanisms' to assist in breaking down food.

Explanation:

This often occurs in the mouth (buccal cavity), where the human chews the food to break it down into smaller pieces, creating a higher surface area which enables more effective exposure for enzymatic digestion. This also occurs in the stomach where the food is churned, not only mixing the digestive fluids with the bolus (name for food after mechanical digestion), but also physically breaks down the food into further smaller pieces.