What makes a living thing?

How can we separate Living from Non-

Living?
• What do living things do that non living do
not?
1. Living things are made of cells
• Unicellular organisms are made up of only one cell.
E.g. bacteria, paramecia, yeast
• Multicellular organisms. E.g. Plants, Bear
2. Living Things Take in Nutrients
 2. Living Things Take in Nutrients
• Consumers - consume (eat) other organisms for nutrients
• Producers - produce their own food using energy from the
Sun.
2. Living Things Take in Nutrients
• Consumers – E.g. Animals Producers – E.g. Plants
3. Living Things Use Energy.
3. Living Things Use Energy.
• Consumers: get energy from the food they eat
• Producers: get energy from the sun
4. Living Things Produce Waste

Plants  oxygen
Consumers  carbon dioxide,
feces, urine
 4. Living Things Produce Waste
Unicelluar organisms: Waste passes
across the membrane of a cell into the
environment, or is excreted by a
vesicle

Multicellular organisms: Have

structures and systems that collect and
remove waste. Humans have kidneys
that filter waste from blood
5. Living Things Respond to Stimuli
• A Stimulus (plural: stimuli) is anything that causes a
living thing to respond in a certain way
5. Living Things Respond to Stimuli
• A Stimulus (plural: stimuli) is anything that causes a
living thing to respond in a certain way
 Types of Stimuli:

• Internal stimulus– occurs inside a living thing and causes a

response

• Eg. hunger, thirst,

stomach growling (stimulus) –> Response (eat food)

5. Living Things Respond to Stimuli

External stimulus – occurs outside the body ( from the

environment) to cause a response
• Eg. You feel cold  you put on a coat
• Eg. Snake lunges at a rabbit  rabbit runs away
Eg. Dog feels hot in the sun  dog moves to shade
Can plants respond to stimuli?
Plants can respond to stimuli
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHe7y8cy-7Y
Mimosa (Sensitive Plant)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF-b6TsO1DM
6. Living Things Grow and Develop
• Unicellular organisms: grow by increasing in cell size
up to a certain point.
• Multicellular organisms: grow by increasing the
number of cells in their body
7. Living Things Reproduce
Unicellular Organisms reproduce by:
• Cell division: eg. bacteria divide into two cells
• Budding – eg. yeast cells pinch off a piece that grows
into new cell
Multicellular Organisms reproduce
by mating:
Living or Not?
Streptococcus Bacteria
The streptococcus bacteria is a single spherical cell, but
can grow into long chains, like a microscopic pearl
necklace. To grow, the bacteria splits itself in half and
becomes two! If it ever finds itself in your throat, you
develop strep throat. There, it absorbs nutrients
through its thin cell membrane and releases wastes.
Is streptococcus alive? Why or why not?
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
The HIV virus is a round little capsule made of protein.
It resides inside the white blood cells of other animals,
but doesn’t use them for nutrition. In fact, it doesn’t
eat at all. When conditions are right, the HIV virus will
use the body parts inside the white blood cell host to
make a copy of itself. It then busts out of the white
blood cell, effectively killing it, to go on to infect
others.
Is HIV alive? Why or why not?
Practice

• Complete BLM 1-15

• Read p10, Answer Reading Check p11
• WB p3-6
• Extra video, 3 min:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30qOijVBS7o