Nature includes the subsoil, soil, underground and surface waters, the atmosphere up to the ozone layer and near-Earth space, plants, animals and other organisms. What is created by human hands does not belong to nature.


Objects of nature are divided into living (organisms) and non-living. There are several signs to distinguish them.

Signs of living nature - organisms:

- grow, in their development - ontogenesis - they go through certain stages, as a result they change shape and increase;

- need nutrition and energy that supports life processes;

— processes of transformation of some substances into others continuously take place inside organisms;

- reproduce different ways, that is, they reproduce organisms similar to themselves;

- die.

According to these characteristics, living nature includes humans, animals, plants, fungi, bacteria and viruses.

Modern scientists consider the main characteristic of all living nature to be the ability to transmit genetic information to offspring, preserving and transforming the genotype.

Diversity of wildlife. Records big and small

Wildlife is surprisingly diverse - in shape, size, lifestyle. Some organisms can only be seen through a microscope. So, in 2013, Japanese scientists discovered the smallest multicellular organism to date - an algae of 4 cells. The diameter of the algae is 0.01 mm. Outwardly, it looks like a four-leaf clover, which is why in Japan it was called “algae of happiness.”

But there are also organisms from 1 cell. Until recently, the smallest of them was considered to be a single-celled amoeba. But its record was also broken: it was discovered off the coast of Iceland single cell organism not only the smallest in size, but also the simplest in genotype - only 500 kilobases (for comparison: in humans - more than 600,000,000 kilobases).


Record holder for size - blue whale- also lost his leadership. The largest living organism today is considered to be the mycelium of the honey fungus from the Malheur Nature Reserve (USA, Oregon). Over the course of 2.4 thousand years of life, it has grown by 880 hectares!

The mycelium was called the Oregon monster: entangling the roots of trees, it leads to their death. It was discovered in 1998 only because scientists studied mass death mature trees in the reserve. Another similar monster - also the mycelium of the honey fungus - has grown in Washington state: its size is about 600 hectares.

Inanimate nature

Inanimate nature consists of energy fields and substances. They represent a multi-level system - from elementary particles to atoms, chemical elements, celestial bodies, stars, galaxies and.

The substance that is closer and more understandable to us is also not uniform. It can change its state of aggregation, being a solid, liquid, gas, plasma. Among the substances there are unique ones that amaze the imagination with their properties.

For example, we are accustomed to the fact that in order to melt a metal it is necessary heat. And gallium metal goes into a liquid state (melts) at room temperature. If you drop gallium onto aluminum, the latter will immediately become very brittle. Another substance - sodium acetate - is a liquid, but as soon as you touch it, it instantly turns into “ice”.

Another stereotype is associated with gases - lightness. However, there is a gas that is extremely heavy - sulfur hexafluoride. If you fill a container with it and close it tightly, the container will settle to the bottom in the form water body. This gas can literally be scooped out, although it remains a gas. If you place a toy boat on its surface, it will seem that the boat is floating in the air. And if you inhale, your voice will become low and scary.

All mentioned above unique properties haven't found it yet practical application, like the metal nitinol. But nitinol has great practical potential. The fact is that this amazing substance... has memory. If it is exposed to heat, it returns to its original shape even with the most severe distortion. Imagine that glasses are made from such metal. If they are accidentally bent, you can simply place the glasses under the stream warm water and - they will return to their normal appearance.


The secrets of living and inanimate nature are discovered almost every day. The entire complexity of the world and the world order, the connections between living and nonliving elements of nature cannot yet be explained to man. Perhaps with further study this division will be abolished or complicated.

In ancient times, people considered almost everything that surrounded them to be representatives of the living world. They simply treated some objects as part of their life and everyday life, while they deified others, since they could not understand the nature of their existence.

In contact with

Types of objects in the surrounding world

Nowadays, most of us, having already looked at an object, can immediately say what type of nature it belongs to: living or inanimate. But sometimes the presence of certain signs that are inherent in living organisms can confuse a person - what type of objects can this or that object be classified as?

Both stone and mushroom do not have the ability to move in space, but if the first is clearly classified as a non-living organism, then the mushroom is certainly classified as a species of living nature. Because there are other signs that allow us to distinguish one species from another.

A mouse lives with a continuous process of breathing throughout its life, absorbing oxygen from the surrounding atmosphere and releasing carbon dioxide, but a candle, with its burning flame, absorbs oxygen, but does not emit carbon dioxide as a waste product. Thus, the metabolic process, as the only sign, can be inherent in various objects and cannot be fundamental classification factor in the environment.

Therefore in modern science There is a set of characteristics that allows us to understand how a living object differs from a nonliving one. And if the study reveals that not all signs of the class of living organisms are present, then such an object can safely be classified as a representative of the inanimate world.

Features of living species of nature and their main differences

At first glance, all the nature that surrounds us can be called alive.

So how is it different from the inanimate world? To find the correct answer to this question, you need to carefully study general properties both types.

One of the distinguishing features is continuous metabolic process energy and substances between them - representatives of a certain class of living nature and its environment. Also, the obvious signs of such an organism are determined at the molecular level by the presence of protein and nucleic acids in the composition of each molecule.

In addition, there are several more signs that directly indicate how living nature differs from inanimate nature and provide an answer to this complex question.

Only the presence or absence of the entire set of listed characteristics will allow us to give an unambiguous answer that the object under study belongs to one or another class of nature.

Features of inanimate species of nature

Considering the above set of characteristics that only living organisms can possess, the absence of at least one of them may indicate that the object belongs to inanimate nature.

Here are the main signs of non-living organisms:

You already know what a word is. Each word describes a particular object, indicates its location and gives it a name. However, words in Russian do not exist by themselves. They unite in syntactic construction, which is called a proposal.

What is a proposal, introduction to the proposal

A sentence is a set of words that are related to each other in meaning. For example: Dasha went to the store. Vitya was fishing. Flowers grew in the garden. Thanks to the sentence, we can not only recognize the action that is being performed or will be a completely specific object, but we can also fully express our thoughts and convey information.

After all, when you tell your mother about your school friends, talk to a teacher at school, or communicate with classmates, you use sentences in your speech. Sentences are also used in writing.

In writing, the letter with which a sentence begins should be written in capital. For example: Correct writing: The girl was reading a book. Squirrel barely tasty nuts. We see that the words “girl” and “squirrel” in the sentence are written with a capital letter.

What is living and inanimate nature

You have probably heard the expression “living and inanimate nature” many times. Let's figure out what this expression means. Nature is everything that surrounds people, and what they themselves did not make. Nature consists of two components: living and inanimate nature.

Live nature- these are those objects that can breathe, grow and die, just like a person. Living nature includes fungi, plants, animals, bacteria and humans themselves. Inanimate nature- these are those objects of nature that do not grow. They are always in the same state. These are water, sky, stones, soil, rainbow, wind, rain.

Also included in inanimate nature are the celestial bodies – the Moon and the Sun. Living and inanimate nature are interconnected. Inanimate nature contributes to the life of living nature. For example, we all know that fish live in water.

Water is inanimate nature and fish is living. If there was no water, the fish would not be able to live. Plants live thanks to sunlight. The sun is inanimate nature.

Proposals with objects of living and inanimate nature

Let's try to make sentences and describe living and inanimate nature in them.

Cucumbers and tomatoes grew in the beds. Cucumbers and tomatoes are plants (living nature) growing on the soil (inanimate nature).

A proud falcon flew in the sky. Falcon is a bird (wild nature), the sky is inanimate nature.

Masha was swimming in the pond. Masha is a person (living nature), the pond is inanimate nature.

The bunny was eating green grass. Bunny – animal (wildlife), grass – plant (wildlife)

Water covered the stones on the shore. Water is inanimate nature, stones are inanimate nature.

Grandmother looked at the sun. Grandmother is a person (living nature), the Sun is a heavenly body (inanimate nature)

Names everything living and nonliving created without his participation. This is all the world. In the article we will consider what nature is, what it consists of and what impact it has on human life.

Meaning of the word

In science, it is customary to call nature material world located in the universe. It is the main subject of study and research in the natural sciences. Everyday meaning The word “nature” is somewhat simplified and means natural habitat.

In natural science, there are several kingdoms of nature. Carl Linnaeus, a Swedish naturalist and physician, in his 1735 work System of Nature, identified the following kingdoms:

• mineral, which covers inanimate nature: stones, water, sun;
• vegetable, which includes all plants (studied by botany);
• an animal that includes all living organisms (studied by zoology).

Dokuchaev V.V., geologist and soil scientist, believed that another kingdom should be distinguished - bioinert, which includes knowledge about soils, as he stated in 1883.

The word "nature" can also be considered in other meanings:

• Set of conditions natural environment habitats: relief, climate, plants and animals. For example, tropical nature.
• The set of properties and needs of the human body. For example, male and female nature.
• The essence of something and its basic properties. For example, the nature of light.
• In common parlance, “nature” is used to describe human qualities. For example, leisurely by nature, witty by nature.

The word “nature”: analysis and synonyms for it

The word "nature" is a feminine noun. According to new morphemic and word-formation dictionaries, it consists of two parts:

• “nature” is the root and basis of the word;
• "a" is the ending.

If we consider the word “nature” according to its etymology, then the composition consists of three parts:

• “at” - prefix;
• "genus" - root;
• “a” - ending;
• The basis of the word is “nature”.

Many consider the second option to be more correct. Because the word “nature” itself means everything that was in nature, that is, on Earth, where people lived - the race. Words with the same root are: homeland, people, relative, parents, spring and the like.

Synonyms for the word “nature”: essence, world, likeness, universe, fundamental principle, organism, nature, nature, substance, reality.

Usually the word we are considering is associated with the following concepts: trees, forest, plant air, security, love, sky, animals, plants, seasons, mountains, clouds and more.

Life on Planet Earth

Our planet today is the only one (at least according to official data) on which life and the existence of living matter have been recorded. Her natural features have been studied for many centuries by scientists and researchers.

Life on Earth is possible due to the nature of the planet: two polar regions and a tropical region in the middle. Precipitation falling on the surface and the presence of the atmosphere make it possible for all living things to grow and feed. And soil is the basis for building and growing crops.

There is a constant evolution of geological and biological processes on the planet. The presence of water is the basis for the life of all organisms. It occupies approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. Thanks to climatic conditions An ecosystem has formed that includes many living organisms, including humans.

Live nature

Living nature includes everything that is capable of independently surviving, developing, eating, growing and reproducing: plants and animals, as well as humans.

The main signs of living nature are:

• birth, development, growth - all life begins small: a seed grows into a tree, a baby into an adult;
• reproduction - the ability to reproduce one's own kind;
• food - any Living being should feed: trees on liquid, and animals on plants or other animals;
• breathing and movement - living organisms are able to move independently, for which they need oxygen: animals walk with the help of their paws, and plants turn towards the sun;
• dying is the end of the existence of an organism, after which it becomes an object of inanimate nature: a tree is animate nature, and a felled trunk is inanimate.

Biology distinguishes the following objects of living nature:

• microorganisms are the very first forms of life on the planet;
• plants - the world of flora, which is presented in a rich variety - from single-celled algae to huge trees;
• animals are the most large group wildlife;
• Man is considered the highest level of development of living nature.

What is inanimate nature and why is it called that? Let's look at it below.

In addition to vegetation and animals, a person is surrounded by other objects created without his participation. These are stones, clouds, rivers, mountains, wind, leaves, sun rays.

Inanimate nature is the primary source; it is from it and thanks to it that life appeared on the planet. All organisms use inanimate objects in the process of life.

Signs of objects of inanimate nature are:

• resistance to weather conditions and other environmental changes;
• low variability;
• lack of the ability to breathe, eat, reproduce, grow, move and die.

The following sciences study such objects: physics, chemistry, hydrography, geology, astronomy and others.

Objects of inanimate nature are classified as follows:

• solids - minerals, rocks, glaciers, stones, rocks, comets;
• liquid bodies - dew, rain, clouds, lava, river;
• gaseous bodies - steam, nebulae of the universe, some planets, air masses.

The lives of living and inanimate nature are closely interconnected and one is impossible without the other. Particularly necessary are soil, air, water, and sun.

The connection between nature and seasons

The nature of our planet is in constant motion. The main feature of life is its cyclical nature - successively changing seasons that set the rhythm of existence, the phases of sleep and awakening, the development and slowdown of processes.

The change of seasons during the year is usually called the seasons - these are winter, spring, summer and autumn. This natural phenomenon attracts scientists and influences artists.

Poets and artists have dedicated many works to the seasons. They praise the beauty of nature. And medical scientists associate many processes occurring in human body, precisely with the change of seasons.

Nature in art

What is nature in art? This is an image that is often endowed with human qualities: will, desire or opposition.

The theme of nature began to be revealed most widely from the era of romanticism. It was described as an instinctive principle, something opposed to man. Nature in art is perceived as the beginning of all living things, which is why it is often called pure and virgin, as well as mother. When a person gets tired of civilization, he finds peace in nature.

Since the 20th century, the personified image has been endowed with vengeance. Nature is described as the Earth's response to human activity in the form natural Disasters and disasters. Natural phenomena complex and diverse, they speak of nature’s ability to teach humanity.

Nature and human life

Man is an integral part of nature. He exists only thanks to her - atmospheric pressure, liquids, oxygen, soil. If you remove just one component, a person will not be able to exist.

People create luxury goods for themselves, and satisfy their primary needs with the help of nature. It is she who provides protection, resources, food. Humanity has long stopped living in caves and hunting; instead, people build houses and shops.

For humans, nature is an inexhaustible source of information. Thanks to knowledge, scientists analyze the past and try to predict the future.

But with the rapid development of scientific and technological progress, humanity ceases to take nature into account. IN modern world exist global problems- warming, lack of forests, extermination of animals... All this throws the ecosystem out of balance. Governments are drawing up projects to restore nature, planting areas and more carefully analyzing the remaining resources.

Instead of an afterword

To the question: “What is nature?” you can answer in different ways, because it is so ambiguous, incomprehensible and limitless. But one thing can be stated: man calls himself the king of nature, but in fact he is only a part of it, a component of something larger, a grain of sand in the ocean of the universe.

Definition of inanimate nature

Everything that surrounds us, unless, of course, it is technology or any other element created by the hands of mankind, is a natural component, which is usually divided into living and nonliving. The first implies plants, animals, as well as the person himself. That is, this is everything that moves, develops, and requires certain resources for its life. Inanimate nature, in turn, represents all elements that do not breathe, do not grow or develop. Unlike all living organisms, they have a simpler structure. They do not need air, food or any other vital resource. Simply put, they don't live. Moreover, over several hundreds, thousands and even millions of years, all inanimate nature remains unchanged.

Is it really lifeless?

For many years no philosopher could give precise definition the concept of life. Moreover, modern and outdated dictionaries describe this word very vaguely. So, life represents several specific phenomena that follow each other in one organism or object and cease after the lapse of time. It is worth noting that inanimate nature also exists according to these laws. To be more precise, it does not contradict them. This has already been proven more than once using the example of crystals. Many scientists who worked with them stopped perceiving them as non-living components of nature. The fact is that crystals have a certain set of feelings. They may age, make sounds (mostly of discontent), rest, develop, or get tired. Many metals or alloys are characterized by memory. Under various actions they may become deformed, but then gradually return to their original state. However, among the others, the experiment with silver ions most accurately shows how similar the components of living and nonliving nature are. They begin to recover when they come into contact with active metals. When you observe the process through a microscope, and not using examples of equations or chemical formulas, you can notice the similarities between them and plants - both develop in the same way. Thus, one can still argue about the “soullessness” of inanimate nature. However, this hypothesis remains only a guess, as long as there is no concrete evidence.

Change of inanimate nature according to the seasons

Each season introduces us to new natural elements. Some of them are mutually replaced by each other, others are characteristic only for a certain time. For example, inanimate nature in winter is supplemented with snow, icicles, and ice. They cover living natural elements, as well as the creations of mankind. Then the season changes to spring, and the winter components of nature turn into water. When summer comes, it evaporates and becomes small droplets rising into the air. After this, in the fall, the water returns to the earth in the form of rainfall. Winter, in turn, again turns it into ice crystals.

Dead but important

There is no point in arguing about whether inanimate nature is truly such, or whether it develops in the same way as its living sister, only much more slowly. One thing is for sure, it plays an important role in the life of the planet.