Living and Non-living Objects
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Characteristics of Living Things
It is not always an easy thing to tell the difference between living, dead, and non-living things. Prior to the 1600's many people believed that nonliving things could spontaneously turn into living things. For example, it was believed that piles of straw could turn into mice. That is obviously not the case. There are some very general rules to follow when trying to decide if something is living, dead, or non-living. Listed here are the six rules used by scientists:
- Living things are made of cells.
- Living things obtain and use energy.
- Living things grow and develop.
- Living things reproduce.
- Living things respond to their environment.
- Living things adapt to their environment.
Characteristics of Non-living Things
The basic Characteristics of Non-living things are described as following
- The most important characteristic of nonliving things is the absence of protoplasm, the fundamental basis of life. For example, cells are absent in stones or any non living things.
- Due to the absence of protoplasm, no metabolic activities are possible in the nonliving things.
- The structural organization like tissue, organ or system is never found in nonliving things.
- The nonliving things usually do not have any definite form or size of their own. Liquids assume the shape of the container. A liquid like water when heated changes into the gaseous state or can be even frozen into the solid state and thus it has no definite form.
- The movement, if observed, is never automatic but occurs under any other external influence.
- Another Characteristics of Non-living things is that growth occurs by accretion, i.e. by addition of materials from outside. For example a crystal in a solution or a snowball may grow larger in size due to the accumulation of particles of its own unit on the outer surface of the original body.
- The absence of nutrition, excretion, respiration, reproduction, irritability and adaptation are the characteristics of nonliving things.
- The unlimited duration of existence or immortality is a vital characteristic of nonliving things.
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