There are three groups of nonliving things. They are solids, liquids, and gases.

The term living thing refers to things that are now or once were alive. A non-living thing is anything that was never alive. In order for something to be classified as living, it must grow and develop, use energy, reproduce, be made of cells, respond to its environment, and adapt.

Nonliving things may show some, but not all, properties of life. For instance, crystals of snow are organized—though they don’t have cells—and can grow but don’t meet the other criteria of life. Living things may keep some properties of life when they become nonliving, but lose others.

So were they ever alive? Most biologists say no. Viruses are not made out of cells, they can’t keep themselves in a stable state, they don’t grow, and they can’t make their own energy. Even though they definitely replicate and adapt to their environment, viruses are more like androids than real living organisms.

If the egg is fertilized, it forms a zygote cell and is alive but remains in inactive state till hatched. After hatching, the egg cell divides, grows and produces chick. These are the properties of living organism, so fertilised egg can be considered as living.

All living things grow and develop. All living things are capable of reproduction, the process by which living things give rise to offspring.

All living organisms share several key characteristics or functions: order, sensitivity or response to the environment, reproduction, growth and development, regulation, homeostasis, and energy processing. When viewed together, these characteristics serve to define life.

Living beings can feel and respond to changes around them. Most animals feel things around them. They use their sensory organs;eyes, ears, nose, skin and tongue.

All living things need oxygen. The reason living things breathe is to get the oxygen they need, and to get rid of carbon dioxide waste. Plants and animals breathe in many different ways.

Most living things need oxygen to survive. Oxygen helps organisms grow, reproduce, and turn food into energy. Humans get the oxygen they need by breathing through their nose and mouth into their lungs. Oxygen gives our cells the ability to break down food in order to get the energy we need to survive.

Buildings, table, chair, curtains, etc are man-made things. They are also non-living things. All living things need food to get energy to carry out all the activities. Non-living things do not need food for their survival.

oxygen

Plants do breathe – they give out carbon dioxide and absorb oxygen from the air that surrounds them. Their tissues respire just as animal tissues do. Plants, however, do not have lungs or a blood stream, so we cannot say that they breathe in the same way as animals.

Living things feel changes around them. Human being and animals feel changes around them with the help of their sense organs These sense organs are eyes, nose, ears, tongue and skin. Some plants also feel changes such as mimosa plant as mentioned above.

All living things breathe in air. Plants needs air rich in carbon dioxide to prepare its own food for its growth. The covered plant died as there was no air rich in carbon dioxide.