Monday, October 13, 2014

What is a non-living organism? Can I have examples to understand ?

It is contradictory to say that an "organism" is "non-living". The
fact that something IS an organism contends that it WILL carry some form of living
process within it. Therefore,  I would change your question to living organisms, and
non-living things. Otherwise, a non-living organism (if you leave it like that), would
basically be a dead living form.

The American Heritage Medical
Dictionary defines "living organisms" as beings who share the following
characteristics:


An individual form of life, such
as a plant, animal, bacterium, protists, or fungus; a body made up of organs,
organelles, or other parts that work together to carry on the various processes of
life.

That last phrase saying "carry on the
various processes of life" is the key to the meaning of "living". The processes of life
include: birth, growth, evolution, death, transformation, metabolism, and all the other
bodily functions that are inherent to maintaining a life.
Hence, a living
thing differs from a non-living thing in that, whether they are made of similar elements
or not, the living things carry on life processes while the non-living thing does
not.
This being said, think about a human being (a living thing), and water.
Water has molecules, so do we. Water moves, so do we. However, there is no life
processes involved in the water cycle: Water simply flows.
Therefore, living
organisms are all living beings whose life depends of specific life-maintaining
processes. Non-living things are basic elements that could help build and maintain
life.

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