Animals and inanimate nature. Living and inanimate nature - what it is, definition, description and photo. What does the word "nature" mean?

I think I even remember the first time I wondered, what can be considered a living being. I’m about five years old, I’m sitting on a bench near the store and, out of boredom, I’m stripping leaves from a boxwood bush growing nearby. And my mother, slapping my hands: “Don’t touch, the bush is alive, it hurts!” True, I tried to understand it meaningfully much later, when I was twelve years old.

Living and inanimate nature: how they differ

The main difference between living and non-living things is that inanimate nature is static, unchanged. Water, stone, air, igneous rocks - they change solely under the influence of the external environment, but their internal structure remains unchanged.

Life assumes constant development- moreover, it manifests itself not only externally, but also involves a change in the very structure of the body. Any life on Earth develops in the form of various chains of molecules consisting of nucleic acids. These chains are DNA- are a kind of program, according to which atoms are formed not into a dead static element of nature, but into a living organism capable of existing, developing, and passing on the accumulated experience.

How can you identify a living being?

Thus, scientists have found several signs that help to understand what is inanimate and what is living?. There are five signs that only representatives of “life” have:

1. Metabolism occurs in any living organism, or, scientifically, metabolism(which manifests itself in breathing, digestion, sleep, growth).
2. They have more complex internal structure than objects of the inanimate world.
3. Unlike inanimate things, living nature reacts vividly to any changes in the external environment; it is capable of evolve.
4. Any living creature goes through several mandatory stages: embryonic (or other, occurring before separation from the “parent”) development; birth; height; reproduction; And death. By the way, even the simplest single-celled organisms can divide into their own kind - for example, viruses, amoebas.
5. And finally, in a living organism there is always some unevenness in body structure- stripes on the fur, moles, unequal number of suckers on the tentacles... While elements of the inanimate environment are always perfectly symmetrical(look at a snowflake, a drop of water or a grain of sand under a microscope).

Examples of inanimate nature

Everything that does not have “life” can be divided into three categories:

• inanimate components(atmosphere, water, lithospheric plates, snow, etc.);
• objects in which metabolic processes have stopped(dead animal, dried plant);
• And synthetic substances created by people (plastic, polyethylene, asphalt).

The most curious thing is that many minerals (for example, oil) can be attributed to two types at once! After all, these are, according to geologists, the decomposed remains of ancient animals, which turned into a flammable substance under the influence of pressure and enormous temperatures.

Nature is the entire world around us, living and inanimate objects pleasing to the eye. It has always attracted human attention, fascinated and surprised with its laws. Thanks to nature research, people have gained a lot of useful knowledge that they still use today. Humanity has made many discoveries related to natural phenomena. Conditional division shows that there is living and nonliving nature.

Living nature combines all the objects on the planet that develop, breathe, and grow. It includes plants, animals and people, numerous microorganisms living around. Wildlife brings bright colors to the world, making it more interesting and mysterious. It unites all living objects of different species, genera and ecosystems inherent in a certain territory at a certain time and conditions.

Wildlife objects

The diversity of living nature cannot be described in simple words; its objects include:

The main property of all living organisms can be considered the presence of life. There is no exact definition of this term, but life can be represented as a set of natural processes occurring in any organism, such as: metabolism, growth, instincts and reactions to the nature around.

The diversity of living organisms on the planet is amazing. Each species exists now only because it went through natural selection in the process of evolution and was able to survive and adapt to aggressive environmental conditions. The history of the Earth shows that many cataclysms occurred, leading to the extinction of entire species, for example, dinosaurs. At the same time, not all reptiles became extinct - many adapted and changed.

Life can be found in every corner of the planet, but humanity is of greatest interest. People have learned to think, they have their own consciousness, but no one can still say with 100% certainty that they know everything about their body. The human body is a separate topic for study. Such a complex system requires thorough study, which is what millions of scientists around the world are doing.

If you look carefully at our world, you can suddenly discover that we are surrounded everywhere by bodies of inanimate nature. First of all, these are the Sun, Moon, air, wind, mountains, ravines, water, rivers, lakes, forests, minerals, stones and even planets and galaxies.

These are objects of inanimate nature that are never born, do not feed, do not reproduce, and do not die. At the same time, they are characterized by stability and relatively weak variability. If a living organism is born, lives and dies, then everything that relates to inanimate nature practically does not change.

For example, mountains, once formed, remain unchanged for several millennia, and the planets both revolved around the Sun and will continue to rotate (unless, of course, some global cataclysm occurs). In addition, how exactly inanimate nature “lives” can be observed using the example of constantly changing water and seasons:

• In winter, water turns into snow, icicles and ice;
• In spring, ice crystals turn to water;
• In summer, it evaporates, transforming into steam - small drops of water rising into the air;
• In autumn, it returns to our world in the form of rain.

Inanimate nature is strongly related to living nature and interacts closely with it. Inanimate nature forces living organisms to adapt to various conditions of the world around them (humidity, temperature, soil), since one of its characteristics is the combination of various substances and energy, for example:

• The sun is a source of heat and light for almost all living organisms - without them they simply cannot exist;
• If you block access to air or water to living nature, they will die;
• Both air and water must be clean, otherwise irreversible changes may well occur in a living organism.

On the other hand, representatives of the animal world also influence the inanimate elements of our planet with their vital activity (for example, plants and animals fertilize the soil in every possible way and cleanse the surrounding world of various types of waste).

Classification of the concept

The very concept of “inanimate nature” is so broad that one specific science is not able to study all its elements, so chemistry, physics, geology, astronomy and other disciplines deal with this.

At the same time, there is still no clear definition for such a simple concept, despite the fact that scientists have identified its characteristic features, and classified inanimate nature itself as follows:

1. Elementary particles;
2. Atoms;
3. Chemical elements;
4. Celestial bodies, stars;
5. Galaxy;
6. Universe.

Characteristic

One of the main features that distinguishes the matter of inanimate nature is that its constituent elements, despite their apparent complexity, are structured quite simply and have a solid form. Often this form can change from one to another, some ions will replace others, but their essence will remain the same. For example, if we are talking about a crystal, its crystal lattice, no matter what, will remain the same:

• the crystal itself has a solid structure;
• if the temperature of the world around it rises significantly (for example, under the influence of a volcano), the solid body will melt, and the molecules or ions it contains will begin to move randomly, thereby creating Brownian motion;
• if the temperature does not stop increasing, the liquid into which the crystal has been transformed will boil and steam (gas) will be released;
• Under favorable circumstances, under the influence of the outside world, the crystal is able to recover and acquire a modified, and in some cases, its original form.

When carbon is combined with certain gases, for example, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, incredible effects are created that we feel on ourselves, and, not knowing exactly how they were formed, we ask frequent questions - why does the wind blow in this world and of such strength? why the sky is blue, how clouds appear, what the water cycle is in nature.

Unlike living organisms, one of the signs of inanimate nature is that it is not able to reproduce its own kind, that is, it does not produce offspring. At the same time, once it appears in the world, inanimate matter almost never disappears or dies - except that under the influence of time a transition to another state is possible. For example, a stone after some period (much depends on its constituent elements) may well turn into dust, but, having changed, and even disintegrated, it will not cease to exist.

Everything that belongs to inanimate nature does not grow. Despite the fact that some of its objects change in appearance (for example, quartz or salt crystals) and seem to increase in size, in fact they do not grow. At least, as this is done by living organisms that take food inside and, digesting it, form their body. As for crystals, they grow only thanks to other crystals clinging to them.

Objects belonging to the world of inanimate nature have one more characteristic feature - they do not need food, never feel thirsty, and do not breathe.

Inanimate nature reacts to everything passively - for example, if you push a stone, it will simply fly off by inertia in a given direction, fall, maybe roll somewhere, but eventually stop and remain there until the next impact.

Or, despite the fact that the water in rivers moves, it does so due to the fact that the elements of which it consists are extremely weakly connected to each other and try to occupy the lowest place, thus forming a current.

website: the most interesting things about inanimate nature

On our website you will definitely be able to get to know inanimate nature better and learn better about such seemingly elementary things as the water cycle in nature, where clouds come from, why the wind blows, a tornado is formed and other interesting facts from the life of our planet.

Everything that surrounds us - air, water, earth, plants and animals - is nature. It can be living or non-living. Wildlife is humans, animals, flora, microorganisms. That is, everything that is capable of breathing, eating, growing and reproducing. Inanimate nature is stones, mountains, water, air, the Sun and the Moon. They may not change and remain in the same state for many millennia. Connections between living and inanimate nature exist. They all interact with each other. Below is a diagram of living and inanimate nature, which will be discussed in this article.

Relationships using plants as an example

Our surrounding world, living and inanimate nature cannot exist separately from each other. For example, plants are objects of living nature and cannot survive without sunlight and air, since it is from the air that plants receive carbon dioxide for their existence. As is known, it triggers nutritional processes in plants. Plants obtain nutrients from water, and the wind helps them reproduce by spreading their seeds across the ground.

Relationships using animals as an example

Animals also cannot do without air, water, and food. For example, a squirrel eats nuts that grow on a tree. She can breathe air, she drinks water, and just like plants, she cannot exist without solar heat and light.

A visual diagram of living and inanimate nature and their relationship is given below.

The appearance of inanimate nature

Inanimate nature originally appeared on Earth. Objects related to it are the Sun, Moon, water, earth, air, mountains. Over time, the mountains turned into soil, and the sun's heat and energy allowed the first microbes and microorganisms to appear and multiply, first in water and then on land. On land they learned to live, breathe, eat and reproduce.

Properties of inanimate nature

Inanimate nature appeared in the beginning, and its objects are primary.

Properties that are characteristic of inanimate objects:

1. They can be in three states: solid, liquid and gaseous. In their solid state, they are resistant to environmental influences and are strong in shape. For example, this is earth, stone, mountain, ice, sand. In a liquid state, they can be in an indefinite form: fog, water, cloud, oil, drops. Objects in gaseous state are air and vapor.
2. Representatives of inanimate nature do not eat, do not breathe and cannot reproduce. They can change their size, reduce or increase it, but on the condition that this happens with the help of material from the external environment. For example, an ice crystal can increase in size by attaching other crystals to it. Stones can lose their particles and shrink in size under the influence of winds.
3. Inanimate objects cannot be born and, accordingly, cannot die. They appear and never disappear. For example, mountains cannot disappear anywhere. There is no doubt that some objects are capable of passing from one state to another, but cannot die. For example, water. It is capable of being in three different states: solid (ice), liquid (water) and gaseous (steam), but it remains in existence.
4. Inanimate objects cannot move independently, but only with the help of external environmental factors.

Differences between inanimate and living nature

The difference from living organisms, a sign of inanimate nature, is that they cannot reproduce. But, having appeared in the world once, inanimate objects never disappear or die - except in cases when, under the influence of time, they pass into another state. Thus, after a certain amount of time, stones may well turn into dust, but, changing their appearance and their condition and even disintegrating, they do not cease to exist.

The emergence of living organisms

They arose immediately after the appearance of living nature objects. After all, nature and objects of living nature could appear only under certain favorable environmental conditions and directly through special interaction with objects of inanimate nature - with water, with soil, with air and the Sun and their combination. The relationship between living and inanimate nature is inextricable.

Life cycle

All representatives of living nature live their life cycle.

1. A living organism can eat and breathe. Connections between living and inanimate nature are, of course, present. Thus, living organisms are able to exist, breathe and eat with the help of inanimate natural objects.
2. Living beings and plants can be born and develop. For example, a plant comes from a small seed. An animal or a person emerges and develops from an embryo.
3. All living organisms have the ability to reproduce. Unlike mountains, plants or animals can endlessly change life cycles and change generations.
4. The life cycle of any living creature always ends with death, that is, they pass into another state and become objects of inanimate nature. Example: the leaves of plants or trees no longer grow, do not breathe and do not need air. The corpse of an animal in the ground decomposes, its components become part of the earth, minerals and chemical elements of soil and water.

Wildlife objects

Wildlife objects are:

Objects of inanimate nature include:

• stones;
• bodies of water;
• stars and celestial bodies;
• Earth;
• mountains;
• air, wind;
• chemical elements;
• the soil.

Connections between living and inanimate nature are present everywhere.

For example, the wind tears leaves from trees. Leaves are a living object, while wind is a non-living object.

Example

The relationship between living and inanimate nature can be seen in the example of a duck.

A duck is a living organism. She is an object of living nature. The duck creates its home in In this case, it is associated with the plant world. The duck looks for food in the water - a connection with inanimate nature. With the help of the wind she can fly, the sun warms her and gives her the light necessary for life. Plants, fish and other organisms are food for it. Solar warmth, sunlight and water help the life of her offspring.

If even one component is removed from this chain, the duck’s life cycle is disrupted.

All these relationships are studied by living and inanimate nature. The 5th grade in a secondary school in the subject "natural science" is completely devoted to this topic.

Nature is everything that surrounds us and is not created with human participation. So, the forests, mountains, seas, stars that surround us are nature. But houses, books, cars, spaceships do not belong to nature.

In nature there are living and non-living objects. It is customary to classify as living everything that is capable of living, developing, growing, eating, and reproducing independently. These are plants, animals, and, of course, man himself.

Signs of wildlife objects

The main characteristics of living nature objects include the ability of an organism to complete the following life cycle:

• Birth, growth and development. So, from a seed a whole tree grows, the baby becomes an adult.
• Reproduction. Objects of living nature are capable of producing their own kind.
• Nutrition. All living things need food: plants ask for water, animals eat grass, plants or other animals.
• Breath. All living organisms have respiratory organs: in humans and many animals they are lungs, in fish they are gills, in plants they are cells that absorb carbon dioxide.
• Movement. Unlike most objects of inanimate nature, living organisms move: animals and humans move on their legs and paws, plants turn after the sun, bloom flowers.
• Dying is the final cycle of an organism's life. After an object of living nature ceases to absorb food, breathe and move, it dies and becomes an object of inanimate nature. So, a tree is an object of living nature, but a felled trunk already belongs to inanimate nature.

All these abilities are inherent only to living organisms. That is, those objects that grow, reproduce, feed, breathe and are classified as objects of living nature.

Unlike objects of living nature, non-living ones are incapable of such actions. For example, a ray of the Sun, the Moon, a comet, sand, stone, rock, water, snow are objects of inanimate nature. Despite the fact that many of them are able to move (for example, water in a river), others are able to grow (for example, mountains), these objects do not reproduce, do not feed, and do not have respiratory organs.

But plants, which do not move, are capable of nutrition and respiration, and therefore belong to living nature.

Wildlife objects: examples

In biology, the following types of living nature objects are distinguished:

Microorganisms- These are the oldest forms of life on our planet. The first microorganisms appeared billions of years ago. Microorganisms live there. Where there is water. Their main feature is their incredible resilience, since microorganisms survive under almost any conditions. They are classified as objects of living nature because they consume food (water and nutrients) and can reproduce and grow. And over time they die.

Microorganisms include various types of bacteria, viruses, and fungi.

Plants. The world of flora on earth is unusually large and multifaceted. Starting from single-celled algae such as the slipper ciliate or amoeba and ending with giant cedars or baobabs, all plants are considered objects of living nature. Firstly, they are able to grow and reproduce. Secondly, all plants need nutrition, some of which is obtained from water, some from soil. Thirdly, plants move: they unfold and fold leaves, shed leaves and flowers, open buds, and turn after the sun. Fourthly, plants respire, absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.

However, it is worth remembering that after dying, plants pass into the class of objects of inanimate nature.

Animals- another type of wildlife, the most numerous, since it includes a wide variety of species: mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, insects. Representatives of the fauna are also capable of reproduction; they breathe and eat, move and grow, adapting to environmental conditions.

Human- the highest stage of development of a living organism. It is man who has all the abilities of an object of living nature: a person is born, grows, produces his own kind, eats, breathes and, ultimately, dies.

Interaction of living and inanimate nature

All objects of living and inanimate nature are closely interconnected and influence each other. So, the Sun is an object of inanimate nature. But without its warmth and energy, life cannot exist. The same can be said about water, which served as the source of the origin of life on our planet.

All living organisms breathe. Therefore, to survive they need air, which is an object of inanimate nature.

With the help of the stars and the Sun, birds navigate in flight; with their help, humans determine the cycles for growing plants.

In turn, living nature also influences objects of inanimate nature. Thus, a person, building cities, drains swamps and destroys mountains, plants, releasing oxygen, change the structure of the air, some species of animals dig holes, choosing an object of inanimate nature - soil - for their home.

It must be remembered that inanimate nature is primary, basic. We draw everything we need from inanimate nature; from there we get water, air, heat and energy, without which life is impossible.