Matter is part of being. Its division into living and non-living is due to a number of essential features. Let us find out what these signs are and how living matter differs from inanimate matter.
The concept of matter
Matter is opposed to the spiritual. It means everything that has mass and occupies some place in space. Matter acts as an objective reality perceived by a person with the help of sensations. Its forms are many and varied.
Comparison
Let us consider the characteristics of living matter.
Metabolism
All living things tend to eat. The object can absorb food or light, for example. The power source contains the energy needed to sustain life. Complex and diverse processes of assimilation and transformation take place with the substances that enter the living organism. Waste products are removed.
Self-regulation
The environment is volatile. However, under such conditions, the internal state of living systems as a whole is quite stable. A similar feature is associated with the ability of the living to overcome resistance from the outside and independently restore the disturbed balance. An example is lowering body temperature through sweating.
Development and variability
All living things grow, that is, it increases with time in size and mass. However, growth alone cannot be the difference between living matter and inanimate matter. After all, a snowdrift, for example, is capable of growing. Living things grow and develop at the same time. At the same time, the object undergoes qualitative changes that allow it to adapt to the environment.
Ability to reproduce
Only living beings are capable of producing their own kind. Despite the relatively short life of individual individuals, the existence of the species as a whole, thanks to self-reproduction, can be very long.
Heredity
This property cannot be ignored when considering what is the difference between living and nonliving matter. Heredity is expressed in the fact that living organisms through genes impart their characteristic features to their offspring. This contributes to the preservation of the characteristics and characteristics inherent in each specific species.
Irritability
External influence causes a certain reaction in objects of living matter. The organs of irritation are responsible for its appearance. At the same time, the living organism seeks to experience the beneficial effect further, and it tries to avoid the unfavorable one.
Inanimate matter does not possess all of the listed characteristics.
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