LLD101

[blizz99]

Yay on the first day of school, my bio teacher gave us this intresting question:


You have just retured to your house after your first day of biology. On your doorstep, you see something that is not only strange but a bit frightening. It has an external coat of something like fur, but not exactly. A large something is protruding from one end. You can't see if there is a head region on this thing. Is it alive? Was it ever alive? How would you be able to tell?


Except poking it with a stick, what should i be doing? what are some basic principles to determine if an object is alive or not? =/


Some help will be thanked

Blizz

[breakbeatz2]

Try to eat it.

[st-hearts]

Cells, organization, metabolism, homeostasis, growth, and reproduction.

If it has all those qualities, it is alive.

Edit: Outlaw, while it's more rational to check for movement and such, not all living things move either. The problem also indicates that the "thing" in question has something that's "like fur", which leaves the possibility that the coat isn't formed of proteins. For all we know, he could have been describing a mop or broom.

[OutlawHeaven]

Google : How to determine whether an object was alive. Or something like that.

What do you mean by "large something protruding from one end"? What does this mystery fur even look like? Everything's pretty vague to draw any conclusions.

Off the top of my head, to determine if something is alive or not, try to look for signs of movement, pulse, blood, maggots, smell, and whether the object is relatively moist or solid. I can't think of anything anymore off the top of my head =/

-edit- st-hearts, that object is on his doorstep though For me i'd just take a quick glance at it, then either throw it in the garbage or bury it or something.

[Grim04]

Call animal control, you don't want to be trying to mess with an unidentified animal.

[Knifer]

aside from what st-hearts said, if it has fur and "something protruding" it sounds like a mammal. just look for the chest (lungs) to see if it is contracting and expanding.

[Entreri]

We had a similar question last year... something to do with the characteristics of life... i'll try to find my notebook and get back to you.

Edit: http://www.biologycorner.com/bio1/life.html this may or may not help

[Omnipotent Clown]

I dunno guys, the poke it with a stick idea sounds good to me. if it dont move id say pull out a shovel and chop into it to see whats on its insides. maybe then you could figure some stuff out about it. heh heh... i wacked a gofer open with a shovel once. was grizzly stuff. then my dog ran over and ate half of it before i could get it back. Was kinda gross.

[Mr_Bilson]