How do you test if something is alive?

i dont mean the 7 things that determins that something is alive or dead, i mean how to test those 7 things, to show that it is living. dont say check pulse, not all living things have a puls, nor do all breath oxygen, so dont tell me the obvious.

Well, try to look at it (or a part of it) under a microscope. If you can see a plasma membrane then it might probably be living. Also, you can further test it for presence of ATP since all living things undergo metabolism and continuously produces this molecule. If something is dead, I think ATP production stops that’s why you have rigor mortis in dead people.

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One Response to “How do you test if something is alive?”

MacubeX on January 21st, 2010 at 2:01 pm

Well, try to look at it (or a part of it) under a microscope. If you can see a plasma membrane then it might probably be living. Also, you can further test it for presence of ATP since all living things undergo metabolism and continuously produces this molecule. If something is dead, I think ATP production stops that’s why you have rigor mortis in dead people.
References :

Pulse