EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Viruses are considered as something between living and non-living because they do not grow or reproduce by themselves. This makes them non-living. However, when a virus enters a living cell of an organism, it obtains energy from the host cell and starts reproducing.

Detailed explanation-2: -Bacteria, on the other hand, are living organisms that consist of single cell that can generate energy, make its own food, move, and reproduce (typically by binary fission).

Detailed explanation-3: -It is found that viruses depend on the host cell for the raw materials and energy necessary for nucleic acid synthesis, protein synthesis, processing, and transport. Viruses are simply nonliving parasites of living metabolic systems but a spectrum exists between what is certainly alive and what is not.

Detailed explanation-4: -Viruses also lack the properties of living things: They have no energy metabolism, they do not grow, they produce no waste products, and they do not respond to stimuli. They also don’t reproduce independently but must replicate by invading living cells.

Detailed explanation-5: -A virus is considered as a living organism and an obligate parasite when inside a host cell.