What is life, at a molecular level?

Question

If I had a microscope that could see atoms and molecules, how far out would I need to zoom before I could tell I was looking at life?

I’ve heard things like “people are 70% water” but water is not alive.

I’m asking in chemistry because I’m not sure if life at a molecular level is considered biology.

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

You probably wouldn’t have to zoom that far out to see some complex molecules and processes. Here is a very cool [molecular animation of processes inside a cell](https://youtu.be/wJyUtbn0O5Y), each little blob is a molecule that probably represents several to hundreds of atoms. The space between would be full of water molecules but they are left out of the animation so you can see what’s going on.