Astronomy: A Beginner's Guide to the Universe (8th Edition)
Astronomy: A Beginner's Guide to the Universe (8th Edition)
8th Edition
ISBN: 9780134087702
Author: Eric Chaisson, Steve McMillan
Publisher: PEARSON
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Chapter 18, Problem 1RD
To determine

The reason to provide a definition for life is tough.

Expert Solution & Answer
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Answer to Problem 1RD

Reason is that the characteristics of life each living being is different.

Explanation of Solution

There is no any accurate answer for the question that life is existing only on earth. Another important point is that there is no any clear cut feature that distinguishes living beings from non-living beings. Scientific community is able to find some common characters only.

The common features found in living beings are reaction to environment, growth by obtaining nourishment from surroundings, ability of reproduction and ability to adapt with environmental changes by gene modification. But the important point is that all these characters are not seen in all living beings.

For example, a planet can respond to its surrounding by gravitational force, have reproduction capacity (by creating new celestial bodies from its own), can expand in size, but still said to be a planet is a lifeless entity. Consider a virus which is totally inactive outside a living system, but shows all the properties of life inside a living cell. These examples shows that the living and non-living systems cannot be exactly classified based on properties of life mentioned above. In other words, since traits of living beings are different from each other, very difficult to provide a definition for life.

Thus, the reason is that the characteristics of life of each living being is different.

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