Why do organisms die?

Answer 1

Uneliminated toxicity which ages the cells and finally kills them.
Kill enough of them and you are dead.
Old age is usually a reduction of functioning in the various organs.
Kids have organs that have 5 times the capacity necessary for a body to function at rest.
As the metabolism gets older, these capacities drop.
When one drops below the 1.00 mark and doesn't do its job well enough to keep a resting animal going, they affect the next weakest organ in line and the whole thing goes into a cascade of crashes, culminating in death

Answer 2

Obviously there are several reasons, the biggest reason being accident and predation.

However, most organisms are programmed to have a life-span beyond which they don't live. This can be attributed to a number of reasons, such as insects which die after breeding.

Many organisms are programmed to live to an age which is related to the ecological niche which they fullfill. For example, organisms have a strategy to succeed by having larg number of offspring frequently have shorter lifespans.

Ultimately, for longer lived animals, the theory is that cell division becomes compromised through mutation after a large number of divisions have occurred. Thus, many cells are programmed to die after a certain number of divisions have occurred.

Answer 3

I read in a book on GENES by BRIAN J FORD that DNA contains a set chain that cannot be replicated and can only be halved druing each duplication of a cell. When there is only one link in this chain left and the cells can no longer duplicate, apparently this is when an organism must die. So if we're not wiped out by disease, our own bodies will kill us off by refusing to generate new cells. So, in a way, we have our own off switch that we have no control over.
So we die because we can't replicate this chain.
Also some organisms get eaten, others get infected, there's cancer and there's murder. Our bodies can't always fix us, especially if there's a gaping great hole in our chests or we're being chewed to death and attacked with digestive juices.

Answer 4

Death and decay are the processes of entropy. Entropy is a term used by scientists to describe the eventual conversion of all energy to heat - the most disordered and unusable form of energy there is. Entropy is the fate of all energy. Living organisms are composed of atoms bound into molecules bound into tissues etc. Each of these molecules exist because of the chemical bonds between them. Chemical bonds exist because energy from the sun was converted into plant tissue or animal tissue and consumed by other organisms to provide the energy to make and maintain the bonds. Death and decay follows when these bonds disintegrate because there is no intake of energy to maintain them any more.
In an organism, over time, mistakes are made when each cell is replaced, ions and other free radicals displace DNA, or UV light displaces DNA. Eventually these mistakes along with disease etc cause each cell to lose its integrity and the tissues and organs cannot be maintained - they degenerate and fail. Death of the organism ensues and the chemical bonds are dissolved releasing the atoms back into the ground and air to be taken up by some other mechanism. This could be another organism, or it could be soil, air, or rock. We are truly part of a great cycle of life.

Answer 5

The process of living creates oxidization in the body. This damages the cells. Eventually the cells become so damaged that the body dosn't function properly and we die. Antioxidants help a little but even if we took as many as was digestable, the oxidization effect cannot be slowed down to any great ammount. Death is inevitable until we can find something more powerful than modern antioxidants.

Answer 6

Because their body structure is too tired to keep up the pace with life, so organisms die

Answer 7

Do all organisms die?

What about single cell organisms that reproduce by splitting into two new organisms? Do they die or double in their existence?

Answer 8

Two distinctly separate answers.

#1. Entropy. Everything is in a losing battle against entropy. Every day you live and breathe, your body is fighting entropy which wants to pull it down to chaos.

#2. Bio-organisms are genetic constructs, so to speak, and maintain by replicating cells. Chromosomes within the cells govern cell replication. On the tips of chromosomes there are telemeres. With every replication, a telemere is sacrificed. When all telemeres are gone, that cell no longer replicates. As more and more cells stop replicating, body tissues are renewed less often, then less and less, then not at all.

This is a crucial component of the series of processes we collectively refer to as the aging process.

Answer 9

because over time, or through sickness, organisms, break down, and deteriorate.

Cell structures weaken, immune systems die out, bones break down, age damages everything in the body so its hard for it to repair itself.

Other times organisms die because they are irrepairable, or damage is being taken before it can be repaired.

Like being stabbed in the heart, is much like a hole in your gas tank. When your fuel drains out, your car wont work anymore...
But since once your brain shuts down, unlike a car, it can not be restarted, or atleast we haven't the science for that. One day we will.

Answer 10

It's natures recycling program. Organisms die, decay, and in the process they nurish new organisms that spring up in their place. Funny how that works so well.