Living and non-living things
A living thing does things a non-living thing cannot β like growing and sensing the world.
Look around you. A cat, a houseplant, a pencil and a stone β which of these are alive?
It can be tricky. A parked car can move, and a flame seems to grow and feed. So how do scientists decide?
The answer is simple: a living thing carries out a whole set of special activities called life processes. A non-living thing does not β it might do one or two things that look alive, but never all of them.
Some things were once alive but are not now β like a dead leaf or a wooden table. We call these once-living. Things that were never alive β like rock and water β are simply non-living.
- Living things carry out a full set of life processes.
- Non-living things do not carry out life processes.
- A car can move but is not alive β it does not do the others.
- Once-living things were alive in the past, like a dead leaf.