As you can see, I'm no scientist, biut I did the best I could for my... younger age
You're no scientist? What luck, I'm studying to be one.
However yes, I am older than you, so I apologise if my science babble is too... babbly ^^;;
My sister is the same age as you, and she's started to cover this in school... I guess thats another of the differences between UK and USA hm? ^^
I seem to remember my baby sister "kicking" before she was bornm my mom told me. I think that's later than abortion is illegal though
Indeed, by the time babies can 'kick' it is illegal to abort
Plants aren't easily able to change their position, so movement is kind of weird
Aren't easily able to, but can:
Movement in plantsSome parts of plants, e.g. flowers, leaves - may open or close depending on the time of day, or the leaves of plants move themselves to face the light of the sun so that they can continue to survive.
Dispersal of seeds is movement, and results in new plants being spread to new areas away from their parents.
Some plants can move (parts) quite fast, e.g. the Venus fly trap, and the sensitive plant Mimosa.
The grow, duh
Indeed they do... and theres something you do have in common with my sister, that infuriating 'word'... now
that isn't in the dictionary.
I'm still not sure about excretion, I haven't gotten through that many biology classes yet
Then prepare to get ahead of your class
Excretion, I defined as the "removal of waste produced inside cells"
AnimalsWaste is neutralised and removed by the main excretory organs:
lungs, kidneys, the skin (via sweat glands)
Debatably, with the "not to be confused with removal of undigested food" the rather... eh... obvious ways the human (or animal) body has of removing waste from itself.
PlantsPlants may store their waste in old leaves.
Some wste products are returned to the world around them, via the roots... or through the leaves, after all, Oxygen is a waste product of plants ^^
Obtaining? What's the difference between this and that other one? Oooh, in one he 'uses' the food, in this one he 'gets' it. I'm not sure about this one either.
By nutrition, or "obtaining" of food...
Animals either eat plants directly, or eat other animals .... which themselves
eat plants. This is because animals cannot "make" (chemically synthesise) their
own food. Complex substances of plant origin are broken down into simpler ones, and their energy is released as a separate process.
Plants are able to synthesise their own food by the process of photosynthesis. Simple (inorganic) substances are built up into complex (organic) ones - the same as those also used as foods by animals.
Plants can also obtain mineral salts from the ground, which are also nutrients for
plants, but not foods that provide energy
By Respiration (to quote me again "getting energy from food - this occurs inside the cells")
(Aerobic) Respiration equation (because I cant remember the anaerobic one ^^;; )
(Aerobic) Respiration is the same process in animals and plants
"food" + oxygen --> "waste" substances + energy
(e.g. glucose).... --> (e.g. water & carbon dioxide)
(where energy isnt a substance ^^)
Active
animals need more energy, so animals such as Man have a "respiratory system" with a specialised gas exchange surface, and also a circulatory system to transport oxygen around the body, so that respiration can occur in cells and produce the energy the cells need to live, to move, etc.
Breathing is a pumping action in order to get more oxygen, but not all animals
perform it... that is why breathing is not the same as respiration
Plants are less active, so they need less energy, and so they can devote more resources to growth, etc.
Again, respiration, or the reactions within cells which make energy, occur within the cells.
However just because the foetus can perform
some of these actions does not mean its alive.
all living things show 7 characteristics of life
Just showing one or two characteristics... isn't enough I'm afraid... all seven are necessary for something to count as "alive" in a scientific sense ^^;;
Edited by Charon, 21 July 2004 - 07:10 PM.
"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind." --Rudyard Kipling