When you eat something and digest it, is it a chemical change
Answers
Answer:
Explanation:First, there are two types of digestion: mechanical and chemical.
1. Mechanical digestion does not result in a chemical change, e.g. chewing**
2. Chemical digestion results in a chemical change, e.g. digestion in the intestines.
Chemical digestion is considered a chemical change because enzymes in the stomach and intestines break down large macromolecules into simpler molecules so that the body can more easily absorb the food.
For example, an enzyme in the small intestine called lactase breaks down lactose, C12H22O11, into two isomers of C6H12O6, namely glucose and galactose. The reaction is: C12H22O11+H2O→C6H12O6+C6H12O6+heat.
Therefore, enzymes, which are bio-catalysts, are what cause digestion to occur, and that’s why digestion is a chemical change.
**one may say that chewing is also chemical because we have an enzyme in our saliva, salivary amylase, which breaks starch into sugars; however, I am referring to the physical act of “munching” food.