Question

Which of the following is not a property of living being
A. Decay
B. Growth
C. Metabolism
D. Reproduction

Answer 1

Hint: Living beings are complex molecular structures that fulfil all the essential functions such as food, development, reproduction etc. All the living organisms are the same and they share the same characteristics over a wide range. These features are evident in things that are alive.

Complete answer-
Living beings generally exhibit different characteristics that make them distinct. Growth, reproduction, ability to sense the environment and response from our mind immediately are some of the unique features that are exhibited by living organisms. Apart from it, one can add a few more features such as metabolism, ability to self- replicate, self- organise, interact and emergence could be put into this list. Let us understand the options given above:
A. Decay- It is the process in which the dead remains of a living organism gets decayed in the presence of bacterias and fungus. It can only take place after the death of an organism. It cannot be considered as a characteristic feature of living beings because this process can take place only if a living being is dead.
B. Growth- Living beings grow and it can be defined as increase in mass and increase in number of individuals are mainly the twin characteristics of growth. Multi- cellular organisms generally grow by cell division. When we talk about plants, this growth by cell- division takes place throughout the lifespan. In animals, this growth is evident for some years only. Non- living objects also grow which can be seen in increase in body mass. Mountains, boulders and sand mounds are evident examples of growth in non- living organisms.
C. Metabolism – It is one of the characteristics of life. All living organisms are made from chemicals, which can be small or big belonging to various classes, size, function, etc. They are constantly being made and changed into some other biomolecules. There are many chemical reactions that take place in unicellular and multi- cellular organisms. No non- living organisms exhibit metabolism.
D. Reproduction- Multi- Multi-cellular organisms reproduce progeny possessing features more or less similar to those of parents. There are organisms that reproduce asexually in the form of spores, budding etc. In fungi, filamentous algae, mosses reproduce by fragmentation. When it comes to unicellular organisms like yeast and hydra, they divide by budding. No non-living organism reproduces.
Decay is one of the features which is not a property of living beings. It can take place only after the death of a person where metabolism, reproduction and growth are characteristic of living beings.

Thus, the correct answer is option A, Decay.

Note-
Living beings are chemically the same in terms of composition. They contains around 60 element, that are divided into two large groups:
Primary chemical elements: They contain carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorus, sulfur and nitrogen.
Secondary chemical elements: They include sodium, calcium, potassium, silicon, copper, fluorine, manganese, boron, iodine, iron, magnesium and chlorine.