Inspired by my school's upcoming hot dog eating competition, I figured the process of digestion involves chemistry. It does. Shocking. WARNING: I apologize in advance if this turns out to be gross; a man's got to do what a man's got to do for a chemistry blog.
Well since cells can't use hot dogs as a source of energy, the human body has to break it down. These cells should know they can be replaced at any second and will be! Literally. Mitotic division takes place every second.
Well the process of digestion all starts in the mouth! Odds are you don't know that saliva contains an enzyme called amylase. This makes the break down of food easier. So the next time you spit, you should feel very generous knowing you've just shared enzymes with the world.
WAIT. This article says how the stomach stretches and stores food otherwise we would eat food all day. What's so bad about that? That sounds like wonderful life!
Back to boredom. So the stomach secretes two liters of a combination of hydrochloric acid, pepsin, and other liquids with a really high acidity to break down the food. It's really disturbing considering that's enough to fill two big soda bottles... Because of this really high acidity, our stomachs would probably digest themselves if it weren't for mucus. Then most of the digestion actually takes place in the small intestine.Check out the original article here.
So if you really love food, PROVE IT. Enter the hot dog eating contest! Even if you don't win, you're a winner for how many hot dogs you get to eat.
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