Among all the organs, the esophagus is the one with the simplest function. It is just a tube that passes the food from the mouth to the stomach. It has muscles and other internal parts like the pharynx. The esophagus is made up of four layers, and each of them has their own functionality. One of the layers is the muscular one which pushes the food into the stomach. The esophagus is directly exposed to coarse food which is softened and then passed on to the stomach.

The food is not absorbed in the esophagus and it has a long process from the stomach onwards to go through. The esophagus is further divided by sphincters known as the upper and lower sphincters. They both are muscles that allow the esophagus to close and open its pathway.

The esophagus is totally 10 inches long. The contractions and expansions caused together by the muscles and the sphincters make it possible for the balls of food to be balled into the larynx. The food stays in the esophagus for about 10 to 15 seconds before it goes into the stomach. If the food is not delivered in one muscular wave, then a second wave is caused by the walls of the esophagus.

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