Living things are composed of cells, the basic unit of life.

They can reproduce through sexual and asexual reproduction to form a new organism.

The genetic makeup of living organisms produce traits inherited from parents. If an organism is produced through asexual reproduction, the parents and offspring will have similar traits. If an organism is produced through sexual reproduction, the offspring will inherit traits from both parents with some variation.

They undergo growth and development throughout their life cycle. The size and number of their cells increase.

Living things will need to sustain itself through growth and development. This includes taking in food and water to be used for energy, growth, and other metabolic processes.

They must also maintain a stable internal environment. This homeostatic balance is important to ensure that the body can function properly and that the internal environment is kept at a healthy set point.

Living things can take in information from their surroundings and respond appropriately to external and internal stimuli. Being able to respond to environmental changes can help living organisms maintain homeostatic balance and avoid anything that can potentially harm them.

Finally, living things will change over time so that they can adapt to their environment and have a better chance at surviving.

Nonliving things do not have these traits in common. A toy truck may be able to move, but it cannot respond to its environment or undergo development.

There are several crosscutting concepts relevant in the field of biology. Scientists and other investigators examine how information received from observations and experimentation can try to explain many of the natural occurring in our world. Key concepts such as living things constantly maintaining homeostasis in order to survive, living things interacting under systems (such as predator-prey relationships and competition), patterns in the actions of living organisms (e.g. migration of birds), and scale and structure (e.g. cells in the body forming the basis of living organisms or the role of increasing population and depletion of natural resources).

As living things try to maintain stability in their environments, they must also take in resources in order to provide their bodies with energy. This can include taking in food and water to sustain their body’s life processes (such as metabolism). Their bodies have evolved in order to have the necessary structures to survive (e.g. lungs for breathing, mouths to eat food and drink water, and a heart to circulate blood throughout the body). Each living thing will have its own structures in order to adapt to its changing environment.

The field of biology can cover a spectrum from a small scale (e.g. molecular biology) to a more global scale involving the entire planet Earth. On the smaller scale, scientists can examine the genetic makeup of organisms and be able to see how traits can be passed on from parents to offspring. Genetics can also examine chronic diseases such as cancer and how certain factors can play a role (e.g. smoking and lung cancer).

Another field examined are infectious diseases. Although the structure and function of disease-causing organisms are examined on a microscopic scale, their impact can also be considered on a more global scale. When a disease outbreak occurs, scientists will try to prevent the disease from spreading and develop ways to keep it under control. This can include examining how the organisms affect the infected host, the mediums through which they spread, and what medications can stop the symptoms.

As we can see from these examples, biology can be studied using observations and tools to see how living things interact with their systems. In a microscopic scale, computer technology can create models of DNA and other genetic code to gain more information on an individual’s unique genetic makeup. On a global scale, scientists can use technology to examine climate and weather patterns. These predictions can help see trends and changes in the environment for areas around Earth.

Scientists use a common system of measurement in order to standardize their results and work. Since scientists will try to replicate another’s experiment to verify his/her results, it will facilitate the process when everyone uses a similar form of measurement throughout their work. In this case, scientists use the metric system to set up their experiments, record their findings, and analyze their work. Scientists from other regions can then replicate the experiment to see if they receive similar findings.

Cells are the basic unit of life and molecules are the smallest units forming compounds (such as proteins). Since these form the foundation of living organisms, it is important to see how patterns in their form and function play a role in life processes. Similar cells come together to form tissues, several types of tissues come together to form organs, organs performing similar processes come together to form organ systems, and organisms are a culmination from all of these.

On a microscopic scale, our body takes in nutrients and resources which it uses to grow and develop. Proteins play a vital role in processes such as cell repair and immune system support. These patterns will help us understand the characteristics of life for living things and see how these processes occur.

Recall that 1 kilogram = 1000 grams

We can use the ratio and proportion method in order to convert the soil amount. To set up, we will arrange it so that like terms are in the same place (e.g. kilograms in the numerator and grams in the denominator). You can reverse it also, but just make sure that like terms are in the same position.

0.25 kilograms of soil are needed