The 7 Characteristics of Life:

 1. Living Things are Composed of Cells:

• Single-cell organisms have everything they need to be self-sufficient.
• In multicellular organisms, specialization increases until some cells do only certain things.

2. Living Things Have Different Levels of Organization:

• Both molecular and cellular organization.
• Living things must be able to organize simple substances into complex ones.
• Living things organize cells at several levels:
   
  • Tissue - a group of cells that perform a common function.
  • Organ - a group of tissues that perform a common function.
  • Organ system - a group of organs that perform a common function.
  • Organism - any complete living thing.

3. Living Things Use Energy:

• Living things take in energy and use it for maintenance and growth.

4. Living Things Respond To Their Environment:

• Living things will make changes in response to a stimulus in their environment.
• A behavior is a complex set of responses.

  5. Living Things Grow:

• Cell division - the orderly formation of new cells.
• Cell enlargement - the increase in size of a cell. Cells grow to a certain size and then divide.
• An organism gets larger as the number of its cells increases.

6. Living Things Reproduce:

• Reproduction is not essential for the survival of individual organisms, but must occur for a species to survive.
• All living things reproduce in one of the following ways:
  • Asexual repoduction - Producing offspring without the use of gametes.
  • Sexual reproduction - Producing offspring by the joining of sex cells.

7. Living Things Adapt To Their Environment:

• Adaptations are traits giving an organism an advantage in a certain environment.
• Variation of individuals is important for a healthy species.

Questions:

1.      Do all living things have all of the characteristics of life? If your answer is no, give an example.

2.      Name some non-living thing that uses energy.

3.      Name some non-living thing that grows.