NOTES: The criteria for living things include
MOTILITY
IRRITABILITY
ABILITY TO REPRODUCE
MADE OF CELLS
Has METABOLISM
1. MOTILITY - this means the organism can move. Plants, animals and fungi can all move even though plants and fungi are often rooted in one place
2. IRRITABILITY - this means the organism can respond to a stimulus. For example, plants will move their branches towards LIGHT as a stimulus
3. ABLITY TO GROW OR REPRODUCE - the organism consumes nutirients and either gets BIGGER or makes more of itself
4. MADE OF CELLS - The organism is made of one or more CELLS, the basic unit of life.
5. METABOLISM - This is all the biochemical reactions that may take place inside the cell. These reactions need WATER in order to happen because water is the medium in which MOLECULES CAN COLLIDE IN A LIQUID PHASE. So you can think of cells as being WATER BALLOONS. FILLED WITH WATER.
NOTICE that you instinctively know that living things need water...a dead leaf is different from a living leaf MAINLY because of its lack of water...it is DRIED OUT.
