The properties of living matter are useful to know, because this is what applies to each of us. And directly. After all, man is living matter, which is endowed with reason. However, this is an incomplete definition.
The concept
Before you begin to list the properties of living matter, it is worth understanding the meaning of the term. A good option was proposed by Mikhail Vladimirovich Volkenstein, a Soviet biophysicist and chemist. He said that all living bodies that exist on our planet are self-reproducing and self-regulating systems. And their main component is nucleic acids and proteins. So not only man is living matter. And also birds, marine inhabitants, mammals, etc. But man is a highly organized living matter, which is distinguished from everything else by special signs, properties. And now they would like to pay more attention.
Chemical composition
This is the first feature that should be noted with attention. And the simplest formal property that distinguishes living matter from nonliving. They have completely different molecular composition and structure. All elements that make up living matter can form compounds and enter into reactions.
The human and animal organisms include water, organic and inorganic substances - calcium, magnesium, sodium, iron, zinc, hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, selenium, chromium, cobalt and much more in varying amounts. The simplest examples are proteins and fats. They are in the human body, animals and even plants. And they are able to digest, assimilate, dry out. The opposite is oil. Naturally, this is inanimate matter, which is a colloidal, not a biological system. And oil consists of micelles - semi-solid clumps of high molecular weight resins, carbenes and asphaltenes, which do not dissolve in liquid hydrocarbons.
Metabolism and self-regulation
These are another specific properties of living matter. Metabolism, in simple terms, is a set of chemical reactions that occur in the body to maintain its life. And self-regulation is the ability to maintain its stability at one or another level, which is characterized by constancy. And a man most vividly displays it. Since in the case of a person, self-regulation is carried out not only at the biological level, but also at the sociological and psychological level.
And this is all natural. A person is able to control his mental state, influence himself with the help of words and mental images. Separately, there is a place to be emotional self-regulation. This is a person’s ability to react to what happened as is customary in society, while maintaining some kind of “flexibility”. That is, he can allow the manifestation of spontaneous emotions, but he also succeeds in hiding them. This is already something higher, which is the control of one’s own feelings.
Theoretical example. A man, when he was driving home on a bus, received an SMS that he won a million rubles in the lottery. If he remained neutral and, only when he arrived at the apartment, began to jump for joy and enthusiastically thank fate, we can say that he has emotional self-regulation.
Development and growth
One cannot but note these properties of living matter. In a science such as biology, growth refers to an increase in body mass that occurs due to an increase in non-cellular formations and cell sizes. And development is directly related to this process. Sometimes even these two concepts are used, being identified. Which is logical, because these or other stages of development can occur only after the body reaches a certain size. Moreover, none of the above is possible without metabolism.
Variability
This is what accompanies development and growth. It is important to consider this fact. Because not only a person, plant or animal can grow, but also a snowdrift or a crystal, for example. But only living matter can change. Strictly speaking, this is what characterizes evolution. To recall at least the same Darwin theory is a vivid example. Growth without changes is not possible, because the body, developing, adapts to the environment. Which is also changing.
The same process includes irritability. This is the ability of every living matter to respond to the environment. As well as the manifestation of the vital activity of all biological systems. Irritability is the main property of any living organism, whether it is a blade of grass or a person. The minimum size of the stimulus, by the way, is usually called the threshold of perception. And by the way, the manifestation of this property in many organisms has something in common. For example, a flower always “turns” toward the sun. If a person is cold outside, he will also try to find a less obscured place. And there are many such examples.
Breeding
It is worth noting the attention of this factor, talking about the basic properties of living matter. The ability to self-reproduce (reproduce) provides one or another species with relative immortality. And it is difficult to refute this statement, since we are a clear example of this. Now about 7.3 billion people live on Earth. But back in October 1999, there were 6 billion. Over 17 years, the population has grown by a billion! So the species Homo sapiens will exist for a very long time (if not forever).
True, there are species that have already become extinct, unfortunately. For example, quagga. This is an equine animal, which was considered a species of zebras. The quaggs were tamed by humans and were used to guard herds. The last representative died in 1883 at the Amsterdam Zoo. Today, many animals are on the verge of extinction, and so that their extinction does not occur, they must actively reproduce themselves, that is, carry out one of the functions of living matter.
About heredity
Talking about the basic properties of living matter, one cannot but notice this aspect. What the body will be depends on heredity. And the part is “embedded” in it directly. A simple example is eye color. If a man has a blue iris, like his wife’s, the likelihood that a brown-eyed baby is born in a couple tends to zero. Green has more “chances” - 1%. All other percentages are blue. But, by the way, if both parents are brown-eyed, then the probability is distributed differently. 75% - that the child will have the same color. But there is a probability of 18.75% of the birth of a baby with green eyes. Blue has the least chance - 6.25%. However, this is a different topic, but the principle is clear. Heredity - that which is included in the most important properties of living matter.
About levels
So, based on all of the above, we can understand what biological nature is. This is a complexly organized system. And in it there are levels of organization of living matter. The table consists of several items-characteristics.
So the first one. Molecular level. This is what was originally said. That is, the manifestation of the interaction of micromolecules, such as polysaccharides, nucleic acids, etc.
The second level is cellular. Like any life form. After all, a cell is not just a structural, but also a functional unit of the reproduction of organisms.
The next level at which we will stop is the organismic one. It is preceded by tissue and organ. Here the principle is clear. An organism is a living system consisting of one or another number of cells. Take plankton, for example. This is a unicellular alga. But a living organism. A person consists of approximately 100 trillion cells. And he is also a living organism. The essence is one, the composition is different. This is proved by the levels of organization of living matter.
The table also contains other concepts. There is also a population-species level. It includes a collection of individuals that have a common origin and are similar in structure and functional organization.
The last levels are biogeocenotic and biospheric. They are the largest. Organisms of various complexity and habitats belong to the biogeocenotic. And to the biosphere - all the aggregates and manifestations of life that exist on our planet.
Psyche
This is a property of highly organized living matter. This aspect has already been agreed upon earlier. But now it’s worth paying him a little more attention.
Why is the psyche peculiar only to people and animals? Because it implies their experiencing of emotions and sensations, as well as the presence of memory and perception. Of course, maybe our smaller brothers are not able to reflect on the meaning of being, the existence of God and the purpose of our planet. But they feel pain, fear, calm, fatigue and much more - like us. That is, they also manage to reflect objective reality, interact with it.
This property of living highly organized matter also includes the notorious irritability, sensitivity, behavior and consciousness. And if the first three qualities are inherent in both man and animal, then only we possess the last. In any case, the opposite has not yet been proved. Consciousness is a combination of certain images (stable or changing) that are formed in the process of life. Which, in fact, form an individual worldview.
Discreteness
Or, in other words, that which is opposed to continuity and integrity. Discreteness is a universal property of matter. And it is inherent in any biological system . Since absolutely everything (be it an organism, population, or even a cell) consists of many particles. They are separate, but constantly interact with each other. And thus form a single, coherent system.
The concept of discreteness is easily explained on the example of the same human body. It consists of many organs, tissues, tendons, cells, blood vessels. Which together form our body. Without one thing, it cannot fully exist.
Negentropy
This aspect is also included in the properties of living matter. In short, this is the same as orderliness. Without which discreteness cannot exist (if we talk about biology). Everything is simple here. All living systems create order and form a structure. Again, a vivid example is our blood circulation. Which, by the way, provides the notorious metabolism. Blood circulation is a complex process that occurs in a circulatory system. And this process is signed by specialists on several pages. It happens all the time, every second - a person (or any other creature) does not even think about it. This is because our body is a living system that formed this structure, a complex of complex processes.
Mobility
This is the last thing that I would like to note with attention, telling about the basic fundamental properties of living matter. Mobility is characteristic of every creature. It implies the ability to move, which is necessary for everyone. The same flower - to turn to the sun. Thanks to mobility, every living creature can find food for itself, get out of an unfavorable situation, evolve or find a pair for breeding (be it lions, people or birds). Do not underestimate motor function. After all, it is needed not only by the body as a whole, but also by its parts. Needless to say, even if our organs and cells show a certain activity: blood circulates, the heart beats, the lungs contract. And the notorious plankton moves at the expense of tiny flagella. No wonder they say that movement is life. This statement is true, since everything existing in the world and called living is in constant motion. If you think about it, you can understand: this is indeed so.
Well, having studied what properties are inherent in living matter, we can make an unambiguous conclusion. All of the above is closely related. As for the manifestation and maintenance of the body. One is impossible without the other. And just thinking about this topic and correlating everything with real examples, you can understand how much everything is carefully thought out by nature.