7 Characteristics of Living Things
- Cells: Cells are the basic building blocks of all living things. Every living organism has one or more cells. Cells are in charge of important functions inside an organism, like taking in nutrients. These building blocks of life even contain the dna that makes up each different organism, they even kill themselves off if it becomes infected or damaged.
2. Obtain and use energy: Cells can't survive without energy. Cells need power to survive and organisms need cells to survive. All living things need a way to obtain and use energy. Autotrophs, like plants, use sunlight to make their energy. On the other hand heterotrophs, like people and animals, need to eat to get energy. Bacteria can break down food and sometimes even make their own energy.
3. Respond to stimulus: All living things respond to stimulus. If it's alive it can sense the environment around it. Organisms can be hot, cold, uncomfortable, any type of feeling, so they respond accordingly so. Like a flower growing towards the sun, or you turning over at night when your back gets hot. Only living beings do this because only organisms can want to feel a certain way or do a certain thing.
4. Homeostasis: No living being could live without homeostasis. Homeostasis is the regulation and stability of an organisms inner workings. In humans it does things like keep your temperature around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit by making you sweat when it's hot, or making you shiver when it's cold. Homeostasis works in dogs by making them pant and giving pigs the urge to "bathe" in mud.
5. Grow and develop: Anything living must grow and develop. Even living things that don't seem to grow must develop. Inanimate objects, like a rock, won't grow and won't develop. Even cells have to mature a little before splitting. For something to be a living organism it has to grow, develop, or mature. Sooner like a fruit fly or later like a tortoise it eventually has to die.
6. DNA: Every living organism is different, and they're all different because they're living. DNA gives every living thing on Earth its own code of how it will look. It shows whether you'll have wings or arms, four legs or none, and so on. To be alive you have to have DNA to show what your specific traits will be. DNA is located in your cells, and you need cells to be alive. Without DNA there's nothing that genetically sets you apart from everything else. That's why pebbles are a dime a dozen and you're one of a kind.
7. Reproduce: Only living things reproduce. A lot of organisms reproduce sexually which humans are of course familiar with. Others reproduce by simply splitting like cells, budding, or planting seeds. Organisms reproduce, then with every generation their parents or parent give them new traits that will help it survive. The parent(s) give more and more genetic variations until survival is as easy as it can get. If something can not produce in some way then it's not alive.