Difference Between Non Living and Dead

We can call only those things dead, which once lived and followed the life cycle. For example, we can call a block of wood and leather dead because they come from organisms that once lived. But a chair made of wood or a shoe made of leather is non-living. Stone, water, and a car are non-living because they never showed any of the characteristics of life or living things. So, the difference between non-living and dead things comes from whether they ever showed any characteristics of life or not.

Some important characteristics of living things are – cellular organization, nutrition, excretion, respiration, growth, reproduction, locomotion, stimuli, and life cycle. To know about each of them in detail, refer to my post on characteristics of living things and non-living things for kids.

Difference Between Non-living and Dead

• Cellular Organization: Non-living things do not exhibit cellular structure, unlike the dead.
• Living processes: Nonliving things never produce or use food, whereas dead had undergone a process of nutrition, excretion, and respiration when alive.
• Growth: When alive, dead grows in size, whereas growth, if present in nonliving then it is due to external factors.
• Reproduction: Nonliving never undergoes reproduction, whereas dead, once reproduced young ones of a similar kind.

• Locomotion: The dead once showed locomotion in search of food and to escape from enemies, whereas non-living cannot move on their own.
• Stimuli: Dead things, showed a response to change when alive, whereas nonliving things never show a response to external stimuli.
• Lifecycle: The dead followed a lifecycle i.e., they took birth, grew in size, reproduced, and then died. Whereas lifecycle does not exist in non-living.

So, to summarize, a dead thing is the one that once lived, and showed one or more characteristics of life, whereas nonliving things are those which were never alive. The difference between non-living and dead in tabular form are as below:

Difference between nonliving and dead

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