When our bolus, the small spherical mass of food actually reaches the lower portion of our esophagus there is a muscle known as the cardiac sphincter that opens up, relaxes and allows that food to actually exit the esophagus and enter our stomach. Now, this is our stomach shown in this diagram and the stomach is a very flexible pouch of very flexible sad that is the size of mechanical as well as chemical digestion especially the digestion the breakdown of proteins into smaller polypeptides. Now, depending on how much food we actually ingest and how much protein is found in that food the stomach can actually store that food anywhere from several minutes to several hours. For example, if we ingest ingest a lot of food that contains lots of protein then the stomach will store that food for hours to basically ensure that the food is broken down into smaller components and all the protein is broken down into smaller polypeptides. Now, after our food is broken down into the smaller components and after protein is broken down into smaller polypeptides that food exits the stomach and enters our small intestine and will focus on the small intestine in the next lecture. Now, within our stomach we do not have a lot of absorption taking place so none of the nutrients, the protein, the carbohydrates and a lipids are actually absorbed in our stomach.