Describe the role of bile in the digestive system

Bile is made in the liver and stored in the gall bladder. Bile emulsifies fatty acids and lipids, breaking large chains into smaller droplets. This increases the surface area for enzymes (lipase) to act on, therefore increasing the rate of digestion/the breakdown of fats. As well as this bile is also alkaline, and therefore used to neutralise hydrochloric acid from the stomach. This is becuase the pH of the stomach (pH 2) is too acidic for the enzymes within the small intestine to function properly, and would cause them to become denatured without neutralisation by bile, and therefore no digestion could occur.