help!can someone explain to me?
and what do you think are the most important characteristic of life?and what are the lesser?and why?
gosh,,this living things confuse me so much...
2007-09-22 16:03:39 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
No. They are just an orderly pileup of molecules. Just because they look organized does not mean they are growing as part of a living creature.
If it is alive it can reproduce, can access food to get energy, and can interact with its surroundings to improve its situation.
2007-09-22 16:14:28 · answer #1 · answered by Rich Z 7 · 0⤊ 4⤋
1
2017-01-21 01:29:55 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
A very good question. A living thing is quite complex and organised. It can grow and reproduce. The substance that it's made of is continually changing, so a few years from now you'll still be recognisably similar to now, but every particle of your body will be different.The material that makes you is continually being excreted and replaced by the food you eat. So is a flame, a tropical storm, a tornado, a star or a crystal alive? And you can write a computer program that generates cellular automata, which are images on a screen that evolve into very complex images. Are they alive? No to all of these. But if we ever run into ETs out there, will we recognise them as life forms? And the distinction between the machines and robots we make and living things is beginning to get blurred. Soon we'll be able to make computers of greater than human intelligence. In my humble opinion, the most important attributes of living things are complexity, growth, and the ability to reproduce and evolve to survive in changing conditions, but I admit that this is an incomplete definition. And like you, I'm confused.
2007-09-22 16:23:52 · answer #3 · answered by zee_prime 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Are Crystals Living
2017-01-18 06:52:31 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Unfortunately most if the answers are incorrect. Being alive doesn't just mean finding food for yourself, making travel arrangements & communicating with your next door neighbor. Anything that placed in the appropriate environment as we were can live. The sun lives and will die one day on its own time line; energy never dies. With the theories that I have read in this post; yes theories, the only living things on this planet are plants and animals. Just because you don't see billions of life forms on the surface of your skin doesn't mean they are not present (living).
Now to answer the question above. Are crystals alive? Yes, crystals are a life form that can only thrive in a unique environment as our sun does. We only see the finished product of what time allows these organisms to become.
A female flower will not reproduction unless the male is able to pollinate her. Without the wind, insect & other flying creatures; that female plant will just grow not flower.
2015-10-07 19:26:04 · answer #5 · answered by AHMED 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No crystals are not considered alive. They grow but do not eat or breathe to stay alive. The most important characteristics of life are growth, feeding, and reproduction. Lesser characteristics would be using air, and motion or movement. I'm sure I'm leaving a few things out.
2007-09-22 16:13:29 · answer #6 · answered by GBOY 2 · 1⤊ 3⤋
first you must ask what does alive mean.
the best definition is ability or attempt to reverse ones or communities entropy/entropy.
the only definition that does not place restrictions on what life is.
crystals grow, crystals eat, crystals reproduce just not in the same way we do. comparing them to plants/bacteria/ animals would be a mistake wouldn't it.
there not based in the same chemical comp as our branch or life, rather their dictated but the resident frequencies and vibrations of the element that compose them,
we are not too different in this way but the results are obvious.
ive given this much thought and research and i believe yes this is alive but not in the sense we are use to.
rather if it matters or not is a diff question.
2014-11-14 17:39:00 · answer #7 · answered by kaizer 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Crystals are not alive. They "grow" only because molecules are deposited onto them. They lack the capacity to seek out molecules to support their own growth.
All living things have the following characteristics:
(A) They reproduce.
(B) They have genetic material to pass heritable traits on to the next generation.
(C) They absorb nutrients and metabolize them for energy and/or "parts" (chemicals that can be used for their own cells).
(D) They are made of cells.
(E) They are hierarchical in organization (For example, animals are made of organ systems, which are made of organs, which are made of tissues, which are made of cells, and so on).
(F) They arise from other living things.
There are probably some other characteristics as well, but as you can see, crystals clearly are not alive.
2007-09-22 16:14:34 · answer #8 · answered by Lucas C 7 · 2⤊ 3⤋
Of course they're alive. All things are alive in their own way. Eventually all the people who think life needs to be like us (anthropocentrism) will understand this. But it's going to take a few thousand years, at least.
2013-11-23 23:10:05 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
No crystals are not, do they share any life processes living things do? respiration, synthesis, homeostasis, excreting waste.
And along with the above the ability to organize your self and seperate it form others
Prokaryotic cells- have a cell membrane but no true nucleus or cell organelles.(can sepetate itself but cant organize itself)
Eukaryotic cells- cell membrane and well organized cell organelles and a nulcleus
2007-09-26 14:14:01 · answer #10 · answered by andrewgalazka2 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋