system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What causes that awful pain in your chest when you swallow wrong?
gpt
You have a special valve in your trachea (your breathing tube) that is like a trap set with a powerful spring. If anything that isn't air touches the trachea the trap springs and the trachea slams shut very powerfully. This helps protect the lungs / breathing system from solids, food, water, etc entering and damaging them. That valve being spring just doesn't feel good, it's kind of your body's way of saying "hey idiot, stop trying to breath pizza"

Fun fact - there is something called "dry drowning" in which a person inhales water which triggers the trap. The lungs are now cut off and the person drowns/suffocates to death and not a drop of water touches the lungs.