Living vs. Nonliving 6 Characteristics of Living Things

1. All living things are made up of cells (have cellular organization) --Unicellular – one cell -- Multicellular – more than one cell cells tissuesorgansOrgan system

2.Use Energy Energy is needed to carry on all of the activities of living things. Energy is used for growth and repair. The main source of energy is the sun.

3.Grow and Develop Grow – to become larger in size Develop – to become more complex Living things use energy to create new cells in order to grow and develop

4.Respond to Surroundings Stimulus – a change in the environment Response – an organism reacts to the stimulus

5.Reproduce Living things produce offspring which are similar to the parent

6. Homeostasis Homeostasis - the ability of an organism to maintain its internal environment despite conditions in the external environment. Human body temperature is……… F if body temperature rises, you sweat. F if body temperature lowers, you shiver.

Characteristics of Living Things Cellular organization Use energy Grow and develop Respond to change in their surroundings Reproduction Maintain Homeostasis

Life Comes From Life About 400 years ago people thought life could suddenly appear from nonliving material. Such as frogs sprouting from the mud in ponds. This mistaken idea is called spontaneous generation.

Spontaneous Generation Disproved 1600’s Francesco Redi performed a controlled experiment to show that flies do no spontaneously arise from decaying meat.

Spontaneous Generation Disproved 1800’s Louis Pasteur performed controlled experiments to prove bacteria do not form spontaneously from nonliving materials.

Needs of Living Things

2.Contain DNA and other Similar Chemicals Energy Water Living Space Stable internal conditions

Energy Living things use food as a source of energy –Autotrophs make their own food. Autotrophs capture the sun’s energy and use it along with water and carbon dioxide to make their own food. Auto (self) Troph ( feeder) –Heterotrphs cannot make their own food. They get energy from the sun indirectly by eating autotrophs or other heterotrophs Hetero (other) Troph (feeder)

Living Space Living things need a space from which to obtain food. Water, and shelter. In many cases living things must compete for this space.

Water Living things are composed of a large percentage of water –92% of your blood is water The property of water that makes it vital to living things is its ability to dissolve more chemicals than any other material on earth.

Stable Internal Conditions Because conditions in the environment change significantly, organisms must be able to keep conditions within their body stable or die. Homeostasis is the maintenance of stable internal conditions despite changes in the surroundings. –Your body temperature stays the same even if it is really hot outside. –Barnacles maintain moisture inside their shell even when the tide goes out.