do chemical reactions happen in the mouth in order for taste buds/olfactory senses to detect taste?

Answer 1

It depends on what you mean by chemical reaction. The sense of taste is mostly smell, actually, however, there are 5 recognised true "tastes": 1)sweet, 2)salt, 3)sour, 4)bitter, and 5)umami (called "savory" in Britain). These are all determined by proteins on the cell surfaces of special nerve cells in the tongue that have "receptors" on their surfaces that fit specific molecules or ions. When these proteins encounter their specific molecule, say salt, or maybe sugar, they undergo a conformational change, which then causes an electrical nerve signal to be transmitted to the brain, where it is further computer processed into the sense of taste

Answer 2

In order for you to taste something, it must bind to a specific protein molecule (a receptor) in special cells in your taste buds. That binding starts the process that leads to a nerve impulse to your brain that you detect as a particular taste. The binding of a molecule to its receptor is a chemical reaction.

Also, there are some kinds of reactions that do occur when foods are chewed in your mouth that do affect the taste of things. If you chew up a cracker and hold it in your mouth a while, it will start to taste sweet. An enzyme in saliva breaks down the starch into a sugar.

Hope this helps...

Answer 3

only sweet/salt/bitter/sour on tongue reacts.. no chem. change needed..