Answers

Life Processes

What criteria do we use to decide whether something is alive?

19/11/2024

Science

10th

Answers

The criteria of living beings are Internal growth, reproduction, ability to sense the environment or consciousness and respond, metabolism, self-replication, self-organization, interaction, and emergence

Abhishek Kumar

29/04/2025

Something is generally considered alive if it exhibits a combination of characteristics like cellular organization, growth, reproduction, metabolism, response to stimuli, and homeostasis. These features are fundamental to life processes, indicating that an object is capable of maintaining itself and interacting with its environment.
Here’s a more detailed look at these criteria:
Cellular Organization: Living things are composed of cells, the basic units of life.
Growth: Living organisms increase in size and complexity over time.
Reproduction: Living things can produce new individuals of their own kind, either sexually or asexually.
Metabolism: Living organisms carry out a variety of chemical reactions to obtain and use energy.
Response to Stimuli: Living things react to changes in their environment, both internal and external.
Homeostasis: Living organisms maintain a stable internal environment despite external fluctuations.
Movement: While not always obvious, living things exhibit some form of movement, whether it’s physical locomotion or internal cellular movement.
Respiration and Excretion: Living things take in oxygen and expel carbon dioxide (respiration), and eliminate waste products (excretion).
Nutrition: Living things require food and water to sustain their life processes.

Nandita Jhajhria

27/04/2025