living things different from non-living things. how?

living things different from non-living things. how?

We know that living and all non-living things are made of matter, and that we cannot see or touch "life", yet we successfully distinguish living things from non-living things. The reason for this is that the composition of matter in living beings is such that "bioenergy" is created. With this energy, living beings perform many types of vital activities by which we can clearly identify them. All these structural and functional characteristics of living beings are as follows-

1. Shape and Size : Organisms, according to their respective species, have varied, but fixed, shapes and sizes. That's why, we identify them separately. In contrast, non-living things are varied and indefinite in shape and size, from a drop of water to a vast ocean, or from a grain of sand to a huge mountain.

2. Chemical Organization : As we have seen above, there is a great difference in the chemical composition of matter between living and non-living things. While "living matter" is a complex chemical composition made up mainly of large organic molecules, the matter of all non-living things is just an unorganized mixture of simple and small, mainly inorganic molecules.

3. Cellular Organization : In the body of living organisms, living matter is in the form of one or many fine and fine-tuned separate units which are called cells. It is clear that each cell is an autonomous unit of life. Many cells lead an independent life as unicellular organisms, but in multicellular organisms they act as structural (like building bricks) and functional units of the body. In most multicellular organisms, even the cells themselves are organized into well-organized tissues, organs and organ systems. Non-living things do not have such a structural organization of matter.

4. Metabolism : Look at a stone. It has the same composition of atoms and molecules as it was in the previous year or so. Now pay attention to a dog or any other creature. Bio-processes keep on happening in it every moment and for the energy required to perform these processes, changes in the composition of its matter, that is, transformation of energy, take place. It constantly exchanges substances with its environment like - eats, respires, excretes urine, etc. The substances released into the environment (feces-urine, carbon dioxide-CO2 etc.) are completely different from the substances taken in (oxygen-O2, food etc.). From this it is proved that in the cells of the body, the substances taken in are continuously transformed by many chemical and physical processes. These processes are collectively called metabolism.

One aspect of metabolism - anabolism, is the synthesis of complex components of living matter from nutrients obtained from food for growth and repair.

The second aspect — catabolism — consists of the burning or breakdown of nutrients to produce the energy needed for various biological processes. For this reason, the living cell is often referred to as a "miniature chemical factory".

5. Locomotion and Movement : Organisms, under metabolism, have the quality of spontaneous movement as per their wish for their protection, search of food etc. by the energy generated from the combustion of nutrients in the cells of their own body. The engine of a train, though inanimate, moves, but not by its own power and will, but by the heat of steam made of coal and water, or by the energy of diesel, or by electric energy, and by the will of the driver. The change of place by the whole body is called locomotion and the movement of body parts is called movement. Due to being buried in the soil by the roots, there is no locomotion in plants, but in some there is movement of special parts.

6. Nutrition : The process of taking essential substances from the environment by living beings for growth, repair and energy production is called their nutrition. For nutrition, green plants synthesize nutrients by taking carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and water and salts from the soil, with the help of sunlight energy. By consuming these nutrients in the form of food, animals change these substances through chemical and physical processes so that they can be consumed in the body. Therefore, in the process of nutrition of animals (a) food-ingestion, (b) digestion, (c) absorption of digested substances, (d) assimilation, (e) Excretion of indigestible substances i.e. egestion etc.

7. Growth : Under metabolism, all living beings increase the amount of substances by consuming nutrients in their body substances. Due to this the body becomes bigger, that is, it grows. Such growth is called growth by intussusception. In this, along with the increase in the size of the body, its structural and functional complexity also increases. Inanimate objects can also increase in size, but in a different way. For example, if you drop a salt nugget into a saturated solution of salt, it will grow larger over time, as some of the salt in the solution slowly accumulates on top of it. Such growth is called growth by accretion.

8. Respiration : Production of energy required for bio-functions by all living beings, under metabolism, by decomposition of nutrients (fuel substances), especially sugars by fermentation, Or they are oxidized by the oxygen of the atmosphere (oxidative combustion).

9. Excretion : Water, carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogenous waste products (waste products or byproducts) are formed as a result of continuous combustion and other transformation of substances in the cells of the body. These substances are unnecessary and harmful to the body. The biological process of taking them out of the body is called excretion.

10. Responsiveness, Adaptability and Homeostasis : Because every organism has to continuously exchange substances with its environment, It has the unique ability to maintain its structural organization and functional equilibrium by changing its activities according to the physical and chemical changes occurring in the environment. The changes in the environment are called stimuli. These occur both in the environment outside the body (light, sound, touch, heat, pressure, gravity, electrical, chemical, etc.) and also within the body itself (hunger, thirst, pain, etc.). According to them, the changes occurring in biological activities are called responses or reactions. This ability of organisms is called irritability or reactivity. Maintaining its normal or steady state by reactivity is called homeostasis or isostasis. When there is a permanent change in the environment, living beings can change their composition and nature according to them. This is called adaptability.

11. Reproduction, Life cycle and Death : All the above bio-actions are done by the living beings themselves to maintain their body and "life". In addition to these, living beings also have the quality of producing offspring of their own kind, that is, reproduction. Due to this, the lineage of every living being goes on generation after generation. The members of each generation themselves become emaciated and old after giving birth to the members of the next generation and finally die and get destroyed. This cycle continues from generation to generation. This is called life cycle.

12. Organic Evolution : Although organisms produce offspring similar to themselves, but the process of reproduction is such that there are necessarily some variations among the offspring as we can see in real brothers and sisters also. Due to the increase of these variations in thousands and millions of years, new species are evolved from ancient species. Therefore, the organism is not only the producer of its caste, but is also more developed and the creator of new castes.