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I’m late!
But you should still eat breakfast! Eat slowly and chew your food well.
I don’t have time for that!
Chew Your Food Well
Excuse me. May I go to the bathroom?
I ate breakfast too fast and my stomach hurts.
Listen! Do you think that your parents just nag you to chew your food well?
They have a good reason on saying it.
There is also a mathematical basis for that advice!
Well, let’s suppose that the shape of food is in a kind of sphere.
If you cut food into eight small pieces, what will happen to the total volume?
Whether one lump of food or in small pieces,
the volume isn’t changed!
The volume of the big sphere = The volume of eight small spheres
That’s right! Then, let’s represent it as a formula.
R: the radius of the big sphere
r: the radius of a small sphere
Now let’s solve this equation.
The radius of a small sphere r=1/2R
Now that we know the radius of a small sphere,
let’s find the surface area of the sphere, which is directly related to digestion.
The surface area of the big sphere=
The surface area of one small sphere=
The total surface area of 8 small spheres=
And because the radius of the small sphere is (r) = 1/2R,
if you substitute this value into the equation...
The total surface area of eight small spheres=
The total surface area of eight small spheres = 2 x The surface area of the big sphere
Wow! The total surface area of the eight small spheres is
exactly twice as big as the sphere’s surface area!
Correct!
The fact that the surface area of eight pieces is twice as big as the sphere’s
means that if you cut food into small pieces, the cross-sectional area becomes larger.
The bigger the cross-sectional area is,
the greater its exposure to digestive juices,
assuring better digestion.
Then, does chewing your food well make it easier to digest?
That’s right!
This is the reason why you should chew well!
Now, did you get it?
I’m late!
You’re late. Why are you eating so slowly?
I’m chewing each grain of rice eight times.