what are organisms ?
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There are a lot of definitions out there but at the most basic an organism refers to a living thing that has an organized structure, can react to stimuli, reproduce, grow, adapt, and maintain homeostasis. Let’s walk through those each using the example of a cat and a diamond.
Organized structure: a diamond is made of lots of carbon atoms that are put together in a specific way, if you change how they are put together it can be something else, like coal, or graphite. A cat is made of lots of different tissues that are made of cells. All of those have to be put together in the right way for it to be a cat. Both of these are structured.
React to stimuli: If you put food in front of a diamond or a cat, does either of them react to it? The diamond does not, but the cat does. There are many types of stimuli, but the diamond doesn’t change its behavior for any of them.
Reproduce: If you put two diamonds together will you ever get more diamonds? What about with a male and female cat? The diamonds will sit there for billions of years and you won’t get any more. The cats will eventually have kittens.
Grow: Diamonds can be made in labs using lots of heat and really high pressure. I’m no expert, but I imagine you could set it up so that a crystal grows in these circumstances. A kitten when it gets enough food and water, will get bigger and become a full grown cat. So I guess technically both grow, but the diamond needs a special environment to do it.
Adapt: If the diamond is broken, will it go back together? What about a cat, if it is injured, can it heal? The cat can adapt to injury, but the diamond cannot.
Maintain homeostasis: if I put the diamond in a hot room, will the temperature of the diamond change? What about a cold room? It will, the diamond’s temperature will change to match the environment. What about the cat? If I take a healthy cat’s temperature in the cold or in the heat, will it be different? It will not. The cat’s body will be the same temperature. Keeping your body the same is maintaining homeostasis. Cats can do this, diamonds cannot.
So there you have it. A cat passes all the tests, a diamond only passes some of them. This means the cat is an organism but the diamond is not.
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