Characteristics+of+living+things+P1

**The Six Characteristics of** **Living Things**

 * 1) Irritability: An organisms ability to detect and respond to external and internal stimuli. A stimulus is a change in the environment.
 * Ex. A human moving away from a hot stove after touching it.[[image:http://cdn.furniturefashion.com/image/child%20proofing%20a%20kitchen.JPG width="137" height="137" link="http://cdn.furniturefashion.com/image/child%20proofing%20a%20kitchen.JPG"]]
 * 1) Growth: Increase in size and/or number of cells. Can result from: an increase in the number of cells.
 * Ex. Humans grow in size due to cell increase in number.
 * 1) Development: The changing of an organism as it matures.
 * Ex. A human liver developing where in a certain amount of time, the liver can take alcohol.
 * 1) Reproduction: Ability to create new cells, asexual or sexual.
 * Ex. Humans reproduce their cells asexually and new humans sexually.


 * 1) Movement: Can be movements of an organism's cells or the organelles.
 * Ex. Human lungs expand and contract while breathing.
 * 1) Metabolism: The sum of all chemical reactions in an organism.
 * Ex. Human food consumption versus metabolic activity inside an organism.