Present Simple vs Present Perfect

Valeria.Fontes
Level
11
Posts0Likes0Joined19/9/2019LocationSão Paulo / BR
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Portuguese
Learning English, French, Italian, Spanish

I have a question about verb tense in the following passage: "Partially digested food starts to arrive in the small intestine as semi-liquid chyme, one hour after it is eaten. After two hours the stomach HAS EMPTIED." Could I use a verb in the simple presente instead of perfect? For example, "the stomach IS empty", or "the stomach EMPTIES".

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leosmith
Level
99
Posts1709Likes1133Joined18/3/2018LocationBellingham / US
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English
Learning Italian
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Grammatically both are correct, but scientifically you can't say "after two hours the stomach empties" because that would imply that the emptying only starts after 2 hours; it's actually an ongoing process that is completed in 2 hours or less. 

Learning Italian every day!

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