Peristalsis is the wavelike movement of muscles that move food through your gastrointestinal tract. The process of digestion begins with chewing and mixing the food with saliva. From there, the epiglottis opens up to deposit a hunk of chewed food (called bolus) into your esophagus – this is the tube that runs from your mouth to your stomach. Since the esophagus is so skinny, the muscles along it must expand and contract in order to move food down. In this activity we will examine that process.
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