CHARACTERISTICS OF LIVING THINGS

1
CHARACTERISTICS OF LIVING THINGS

• There are six characteristics that all living
  things share
• Made of Cells
• Require Energy
• Grow Develop
• Respond to Stimulus
• Reproduce
• Composed of certain chemicals

2
CELLULAR ORGANIZATION

• Cells are the basic building blocks of lifeof
  its aliveits made of cells.
• Every living thing is composed of one or more
  cells.
• Organisms (thats a living thing) can be
  single-celled or made of many cells.
• Viruses arent made of cellsguess whattheyre
  not alive. Too bad for themthey cant get into
  the movies or play the drumsas far as I know
  anyway.

3
USE ENERGY

• Metabolism is the term that refers to all of the
  activities that go on within a single cell or an
  entire organism.
• Energy is required in order to carry out all of
  these cellular activities.
• Metabolic processes include making food, breaking
  down food, moving materials in and out of cells,
  and building cells and their components (parts).
  Its a lot of workteenaged cells are lazylook
  for them on the couch watching TVtragic ?

4
GROW AND DEVELOP

• All living things grow at some period of their
  lives.
• Unicellular (single-celled) organisms simply grow
  larger.
• Multi-cellular organisms (made of many cells)
  grow by increasing their number of cells.
• Many organisms go through stages of development.
  Some just a fewothers have many.

5
RESPONSE TO STIMULUS

• All living things encountering a change in their
  environment will respond to that change.
• Some responses are drastic and some are more
  subtleyou cant even see it happen.
• If you hear a loud noise you might jumpBOO!
  Seecalm down now. Thats a response.
• A plant might grow toward a light sourcethats a
  response too, but you cant see it happening. Go
  ahead try to frighten a plantitll ignore you
  and youll just look silly.
• A stimulus can be gravity, light, chemicals,
  vibration, sound, temperature, electricity, etc.

6
REPRODUCE

• All organisms make other organisms like
  themselves.
• Some living things reproduce asexually, others
  sexuallysomebothno kidding!
• Asexual Reproduction single parent produces
  offspring (fission, budding). Offspring is
  genetically identical to the parent.
• Sexual Reproduction two parents required for
  reproduction (conjugation) and offspring are a
  combination of genetic material from both.

7
MADE OF Certain Biological Molecules (CHEMICALS)

1. Carbohydrates made of sugars, used for energy
2. Proteins-made up of amino acids. Some are
   structural (for building) and some are enzymes
   (needed for chemical reactions).
3. Lipids, fats, and oils long-term energy storage
   and cell membrane construction
4. Nucleic Acids (DNA RNA) provide the cells
   genetic instructions also needed to make
   proteins.
5. Starburst (Cherry only)- needed to rot your teeth
   and make you all hyper from too much
   sugarseriouslywhy are you writing this down?