Is atom a living creature?

Question

we are all made up of atoms, aren't we? so does this mean every atom has life?

so if atoms are non living then that would mean non living things together can form a living thing, like a cell, right?

Answer 1

Atoms as of themselves do not have life.
Combination of atoms have life. Certain species called as Diatoms (microscopic creatures) are also made up of tens of thousands of atoms in them.
However, in Physics, it is considered as every radioactive element's atom has half-life (over some decades and centuries they lose weight), which is helpful in techniques like carbon dating.

Answer 2

No.

In chemistry and physics, an atom (Greek ἄτομος or átomos meaning "indivisible") is the smallest particle still characterizing a chemical element.[2] (átomos is usually translated as "indivisible" or "uncuttable." Until the advent of quantum mechanics, dividing a material object was invariably equated with cutting it.) Whereas the word atom originally denoted a particle that cannot be cut into smaller particles, the atoms of modern parlance are composed of subatomic particles:

electrons, which have a negative charge, a size which is so small as to be currently unmeasurable, and which are the least heavy (i.e., massive) of the three;
protons, which have a positive charge, and are about 1836 times more massive than electrons; and
neutrons, which have no charge, and are about 1838 times more massive than electrons.
Protons and neutrons make up a dense, massive atomic nucleus, and are collectively called nucleons. The electrons form the much larger electron cloud surrounding the nucleus.

Atoms can differ in the number of each of the subatomic particles they contain. Atoms of the same element have the same number of protons (called the atomic number). Within a single element, the number of neutrons may vary, determining the isotope of that element. The number of electrons associated with an atom is most easily changed, due to the lower energy of binding of electrons. The number of protons (and neutrons) in the atomic nucleus may also change, via nuclear fusion, nuclear fission or radioactive decay, in which case the atom is no longer the same element it was.

Atoms are electrically neutral if they have an equal number of protons and electrons. Atoms which have either a deficit or a surplus of electrons are called ions. Electrons that are furthest from the nucleus may be transferred to other nearby atoms or shared between atoms. By this mechanism atoms are able to bond into molecules and other types of chemical compounds like ionic and covalent network crystals.

Atoms are the fundamental building blocks of chemistry, and are conserved in chemical reactions.

Answer 3

An atom is certainly is a nonliving entity. To be called living means to have attributes of living, and one of them is to be able to reproduce. A cell is the smallest living entity as it carries out all the functions that a living being does. If you break the cell into pieces none will remain alive. It is true that living beings are made up of non-living compounds. The organization of these compounds is such that they develop capability to do some function. For example, enzymes are made up of aminoacids. If you break a protein to remove all the amino acids then the function enzyme is gone. First Life has come into being by chemosynthesis, that is, by aggregation and polymerization of small molecules.
By the way a protist is called a diatom, is a full fledge cell and hence it has very many large molecules to give the property of a living creature.

Answer 4

No atom is not a living creature; It's much smaller than a cell
Many atoms make a cell ; theory of organic evolution says that life originated many million years ago only by chemical combination of simple gases and elements under electric shocks from nature.

Answer 5

You are wrong........

we are made up of cells which is instead a living creature which reproduces by various stages.

ATOM is a smallest particle of an element that takes part in every chemical reaction.

Atom has no life but it has electrons which can be gained or loss by it.

Answer 6

Here is the formal definition of life :

1. Homeostasis: Regulation of the internal environment to maintain a constant state; for example, sweating to reduce temperature.

2. Organization: Being composed of one or more cells, which are the basic units of life.

3. Metabolism: Consumption of energy by converting nonliving material into cellular components (anabolism) and decomposing organic matter (catabolism). Living things require energy to maintain internal organization (homeostasis) and to produce the other phenomena associated with life.

4. Growth: Maintenance of a higher rate of synthesis than catalysis. A growing organism increases in size in all of its parts, rather than simply accumulating matter. The particular species begins to multiply and expand as the evolution continues to flourish.

5. Adaptation: The ability to change over a period of time in response to the environment. This ability is fundamental to the process of evolution and is determined by the organism's heredity as well as the composition of metabolized substances, and external factors present.

6. Response to stimuli: A response can take many forms, from the contraction of a unicellular organism when touched to complex reactions involving all the senses of higher animals. A response is often expressed by motion, for example, the leaves of a plant turning toward the sun or an animal chasing its prey.

7. Reproduction: The ability to produce new organisms. Reproduction can be the division of one cell to form two new cells. Usually the term is applied to the production of a new individual (either asexually, from a single parent organism, or sexually, from at least two differing parent organisms), although strictly speaking it also describes the production of new cells in the process of growth.


An atom doesn't match any of this criteria, it's just the brick that forms the chemical reactions needed to create life.

As sure as a brick is not a house, an atom is not a life form.

Answer 7

No. Atoms come together to form cells, the smallest unit of life.

Answer 8

Atoms in a single self unit ie. one atom as itself does not have life, however atoms which join together to form a single cell have life.

Answer 9

To your additional detail: Yes that is exactly right. You are made up of atoms and electrons that are not themselves alive. Only the organization of these things is a life.

Answer 10

Atom cannot reproduce and have no need for nutrition and are not even classified as a virus or other life molecule - like a protein that can catalyse reactions in a cell.