Characteristics of Living Things

Objectives

Be able to determine whether something is a living thing or a non-living thing.

Learn and understand the 6 main characteristics of living things and what their needs are.

6 Characteristics of Living Things

1. are made up of cells2. contain similar chemicals3. use energy4. respond or react to changes in their

surroundings5. grow & develop6. reproduce

First Characteristic of Living Things

The first characteristic of living things is that they are all composed of cells.

Cells are the itsy bitsy puzzle pieces that make up all living things. They are the basic unit of structure and function in an organism.

Unicellular: a single-celled organism.

Multicellular: is an organism that

is made up of many cells.

Second Characteristic of Living Things

The second characteristic of living things is that they are made up of chemicals.

-H2O “water” is the most abundant -carbohydrates (energy source) -proteins (building material) -lipids “fats” (building material &

reserve energy source) -nucleic acids (genetic material)

Third Characteristic of Living Things

The third characteristic of living things is all living things use energy to grow, repair damaged parts, and perform daily activities.

Animals and humans eat food to obtain their energy.

Plants however use the sunlight to obtain their energy.

Fourth Characteristic of Living Things

The fourth characteristic is that all living things respond to change in their environments.

Stimulus: is any change in the organism’s surroundings that causes the organism to react. Ex. loud noise 

Response: is what the organism does or an action in reaction to the stimulus.

Ex. jump

Fifth Characteristic of Living Things The fifth characteristic of living

things is that all living things grow and develop.

Sixth Characteristic of Living Things

The sixth characteristic of living things is reproduction. All living things need to reproduce, or produce offspring similar to their parents.

Spontaneous Generation

is the mistaken idea that living things arise from a nonliving source. “Life Comes From Life”

Redi’s (1600’s) experiment with flies and rotting meat

Pasteur’s (mid 1800’s) experiment with bacteria in broth

Living or Non-living and Why?

Needs of Living Things

All living things must have 4 things in order to survive.

1.food “energy”2.H2O or “water”

3.living space4.stable internal conditions

“homeostasis”

Organisms use food as a source of energy. Organisms differ in the way that they obtain their energy.

Autotrophs: “self feeders” are organisms that make their own food. Ex. Plants capture the suns energy and through the process of photosynthesis make their own food. Heterotrophs: “other feeders” are organisms that cannot make their own food so they have to eat other heterotrophs and/or autotrophs to get energy. Ex. animals, fungi (mushrooms), & slime molds.

Food

H2O “water”

All living things need water to survive. It has many uses, such as:

breaking down food growth move substances inside the body dissolve chemicals it’s 92% of the liquid portion of your blood cells are mostly water

Living Space

All organisms need a place to live, get food, water, and shelter.

Competition: is the struggle between organisms for the limited resources in a habitat. 

Stable Internal Conditions

Conditions in an organism’s environment are constantly changing. Organisms MUST be able to keep the conditions inside their bodies constant.

Homeostasis: is the maintenance of a stable internal environment despite the changes in the external environment.