Living vs. Non-Living vs. Once
Living
What can living things do?
In your group. . .
• Come up with a list of characteristics that
you think all living things share
• Give 5 examples of living things that fit your
criteria
• Be ready to share your findings with the class
Characteristics of Living Things
• Not all scientists agree on a single list of
characteristics, the list we are going to use
is as follows:
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Made of cells
Metabolism
Respond to environment
Grow
Reproduce
Organism
• An individual living thing that can react to
stimuli, reproduce, grow, and maintain
homeostasis. It can be a bacterium, protest,
fungus, plant or animal.
1. Cells
• All living things are made of biological
cells
• Cells are the smallest unit of living things
2. Metabolism
• Addition and removal of products. AKA the
transfer of energy
• We take energy in, and we use that energy
Metabolism (cont.)
Addition of Energy
• All living things need energy, organisms
obtain energy in one of three ways
– Eating food
– Photosynthesis (when plants make their own
food)
– Decomposing of other organisms
Respiration (Breathing)
Using Energy
• The use of OXYGEN to burn food to make
energy (metabolism).
O2 +
=
ENERGY
Excretion of Waste
Removal of Products
• Removal of waste products no longer
needed in the body
3. Respond to Environment
• A reaction to a stimulus; ability to keep a
stable internal environment
• Maintaining a balance inside the body is
called homeostasis
4. Growth
• Increase of size
• Development, reconstruction of body
structure
– What is an example of an organism that
completely reconstructs it’s body
during it’s lifetime?
5. Reproduce
• To make more of self.
One more... Movement
• NOT AN ACTUAL CHARACTERISTIC
OF LIFE
• To change location; can also be internal
movement
• Sometimes classified under response to
stimuli
Plants move too!
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_rLb5v
5nIM
Once Living
• Something is classified as once living if at
one time it did have all the characteristics of
life, but does not now
– Examples?
• Fossils, Dead Organisms, Oil etc.
Non-Living Things
• Have no characteristics of life and have
never had any of the characteristics of life
– Examples?
• Rocks, Dirt, Metal, Stapler etc.
Is it alive?
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Dog
Pencil
Oak Tree
Daisy
Bacteria
Coal
Fossil
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Sponges
Rock
Dirt
Paper
Air
Guinea Pig
Car