What Sets Living Apart from Non-living?

📚 Key Concepts

🔹 Characteristics of Living Beings

Living beings share seven essential characteristics that make them different from non-living things:

image

1. Movement

  • All living beings show some form of movement
  • Animals move from place to place
  • Plants show movement in parts (flowers opening, leaves turning towards sun)
  • Example: Touch-me-not plant folds leaves when touched

2. Growth

  • Living beings increase in size over time
  • They develop from small to large forms
  • Growth requires nutrition and favorable conditions
  • Example: A seed grows into a full plant

3. Nutrition (Need for Food)

  • All living beings need food for energy and growth
  • Plants make their own food through photosynthesis
  • Animals obtain food from plants or other animals
  • Food provides energy for all life processes

4. Respiration (Breathing)

  • All living beings breathe to get oxygen
  • Animals breathe through lungs, gills, or skin
  • Plants breathe through tiny pores called stomata
  • Breathing is essential for releasing energy from food

5. Excretion

  • Removal of waste products from the body
  • Animals excrete through urine, sweat, and exhaled gases
  • Plants excrete excess water and minerals through leaves
  • Example: Water droplets on grass in morning

6. Response to Stimuli

  • Living beings react to changes in their environment
  • Stimulus: Anything that causes a response
  • Animals respond quickly (touching hot object, running from danger)
  • Plants respond slowly (leaves folding at sunset)

7. Reproduction

  • Process of producing offspring
  • Ensures continuation of species
  • Animals give birth to young ones
  • Plants produce seeds that grow into new plants

🔹 Living vs Non-living Comparison

image