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Living Creatures: Exploring their Characteristics - What Sets the Living Apart from the Non-living

Grade 6CBSE

Review the key concepts, formulae, and examples before starting your quiz.

🔑Concepts

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Living organisms exhibit specific characteristics: nutrition, respiration, growth, excretion, reproduction, movement, and response to stimuli.

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Nutrition: Living things require food for energy and growth. Green plants prepare their own food via photosynthesis: 6CO2+6H2O→C6H12O6+6O26CO_2 + 6H_2O \rightarrow C_6H_{12}O_6 + 6O_2.

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Respiration: A chemical process where oxygen is used to break down food to release energy. The reaction is: C6H12O6+6O2→6CO2+6H2O+EnergyC_6H_{12}O_6 + 6O_2 \rightarrow 6CO_2 + 6H_2O + \text{Energy}.

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Stimuli: Changes in the environment that trigger a reaction in an organism. For example, the closing of leaves in a 'Touch-me-not' (Mimosa pudica) plant.

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Excretion: The biological process of removing toxic metabolic wastes from the body.

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Reproduction: The process by which living organisms produce new individuals of their own kind to ensure the continuity of the species.

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Growth: An irreversible increase in the size and mass of an organism. While non-living things like clouds might 'grow' by external accumulation, living things grow from within.

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Biotic and Abiotic Components: Biotic components are the living parts of a habitat (plants, animals, microbes), while Abiotic components are non-living (soil, water, air, 25∘C25^{\circ}C temperature, sunlight).

📐Formulae

6CO2+6H2O→Sunlight/ChlorophyllC6H12O6+6O26CO_2 + 6H_2O \xrightarrow{\text{Sunlight/Chlorophyll}} C_6H_{12}O_6 + 6O_2

C6H12O6+6O2→6CO2+6H2O+EnergyC_6H_{12}O_6 + 6O_2 \rightarrow 6CO_2 + 6H_2O + \text{Energy}

Breathing Rate=Number of BreathsTime in Minutes\text{Breathing Rate} = \frac{\text{Number of Breaths}}{\text{Time in Minutes}}

💡Examples

Problem 1:

A scientist is counting the biotic factors in a small pond ecosystem. If there are 145145 fish, 230230 aquatic plants, and 4545 frogs, what is the total count of these biotic factors?

Solution:

145230+45420\begin{array}{r} 145 \\ 230 \\ + 45 \\ \hline 420 \end{array}

Explanation:

To find the total number of biotic factors, we sum the individual counts of the living organisms (fish, plants, and frogs) using vertical addition. The total is 420420.

Problem 2:

Explain why a car is considered non-living even though it consumes fuel (nutrition) and moves (locomotion).

Solution:

A car lacks biological characteristics such as cellular structure, natural growth, reproduction, and respiration.

Explanation:

While a car shows movement and uses energy, it does not grow biologically from within, cannot reproduce to create 'baby cars', and does not respond to stimuli in a biological sense. Living things must show all characteristics of life, not just one or two.

Problem 3:

If a student breathes 1616 times in 11 minute, how many times will they breathe in 1010 minutes?

Solution:

Total breaths=16×10=160\text{Total breaths} = 16 \times 10 = 160

Explanation:

We use the rate of breathing (1616 breaths/min) and multiply it by the total time (1010 minutes) to find the total number of breaths taken by the student.