• A pigeon eats, grows, breathes, moves on its own, responds and lays eggs. A pencil does none of these, so it is non-living.
• Living things show life processes; non-living things do not.
• Similarities among living beings: they move, need food, grow, respire, excrete, respond to stimuli, reproduce and die.

• No. A car moves only when it gets fuel and someone drives it. It cannot move on its own.
• I can, but a car cannot: eat food, grow, breathe, feel pain or heat, think, sweat, and have babies.
• A car does not grow, respire, excrete, respond to stimuli or reproduce, so it is non-living.

• Dog, cow, ant, bird, fish: all of these move on their own and are living.
• A fan, a clock’s hands and a car also move, but only with electricity, a battery or fuel. They are non-living. So movement alone does not prove something is living.
• Plants are living. They do not move from place to place, but they show movement: flowers open, climbers wind around supports, Drosera traps insects, and shoots bend towards light.

• Yes. Growth is a characteristic of all living beings. We grow out of our old clothes; plants grow taller.
• Human, cow, dog, mango tree, hen (all need food to grow).

• Yes, we breathe faster after more activity, because the body needs more air.
• Dogs, cats and cows also breathe; you can see their belly move up and down when they rest.
• Plants also respire. They take in air through tiny pores called stomata on their leaves. All living beings respire.

• Chhui-mui (touch-me-not): the stimulus is touch. Its leaflets fold when touched, which may protect it from animals.
• Amla: the stimulus is darkness (absence of sunlight) after sunset. Its leaves fold at night and open in the morning.
• This shows that plants also respond to stimuli.

• Cat → kitten, dog → puppy, cow → calf, hen → chick, goat → kid (also lion → cub, sheep → lamb).
• No. Non-living things like a pencil, a chair or a bulb never have young ones.
• Reproduction is necessary for the continuity of life; without it, a kind of living being would disappear.

• A seed is living. It is resting (dormant) and breathes very slowly.
• When it gets water and air, it germinates, grows and later makes new seeds. Non-living things can never do this.

• Other conditions: temperature (too cold or too hot stops germination), a healthy (not damaged) seed, and loose soil.
• Plants are living because they grow, need food and water, breathe, respond and make seeds.
• Yes, in Activity 10.2 the seeds grew into seedlings.
• They also respire (need air), take in water, and later respond to light.

• After some flower parts dry, the rest of the flower grows into a pod (fruit) with seeds.
• After the fruits form, the plant turns yellow and dries, even if we keep watering it.
• The seeds from the pods grow into new bean plants. This is the life cycle of a plant.

• Mosquitoes lay their eggs in stagnant water, and the larvae and pupae grow there. No stagnant water means fewer mosquitoes and less malaria, dengue and chikungunya.
• Larva: long, thin, worm-like and hairy. Pupa: short and comma-shaped, with a big rounded head.
• They come to the surface to breathe air.

• Do not let water collect; empty coolers, pots, tyres and containers every week; cover water tanks; keep drains flowing; put larva-eating fish (like Gambusia) in ponds.
• Kerosene forms a thin layer on the water. Larvae and pupae cannot reach the air to breathe, so they die.

• Cover the container with a net and count the larvae and pupae every day, using a hand lens.
• If the number of larvae goes down while the number of pupae goes up, larvae are changing into pupae.
• Then mosquitoes appear while the pupae become fewer. So the order is egg → larva → pupa → adult.

• Frog eggs have no hard shell. They are soft, covered in jelly, laid in water, and come in large clusters (spawn). Hen eggs have a hard shell and are laid on land.
• The egg stage is shortest (a few days).
• Yes. Eggs and tadpoles live only in water; froglets start coming onto land; adult frogs live both in water and on land.
• Features: the jelly protects the eggs and keeps them together; the tail helps the tadpole swim; legs help the froglet and frog move and jump on land.

• Not much. A bird hatches from an egg as a chick that already looks like a small bird. It just grows bigger and gets feathers. There is no larva, pupa or tadpole stage.
• Plants start from a seed that germinates, stay in one place, and make flowers, fruits and seeds. Animals start from an egg or are born as young ones, move about, and some (like mosquitoes and frogs) change shape completely.

Similarities

• Both start small (seed / egg or young one), grow, become adults, reproduce and die.
• Both need food, water and air to grow.
• Both make new ones of their own kind, so the cycle continues.

• Seeds germinate when they get water and air. So grains and pulses should be kept dry: sun-dry them before storing.
• Store them in airtight, closed containers in a cool, dry place, away from moisture.
• Then they do not sprout, rot or get spoilt by fungus.

The tadpole lives only in water and has no legs at first. Its tail helps it swim, find food and escape from danger. When it grows legs for living on land, the tail is no longer needed and slowly disappears.

• Charan is right that the log is non-living, but his reason is not enough. Plants also do not move from place to place, yet they are living.
• Charu is wrong. The log came from a living tree, but once it was cut it died. Coming from a living thing does not make it living now.
• Correct reason: the log does not grow, take food, respire, excrete, respond to stimuli or reproduce. So it is non-living.

Similarities

• Both lay eggs in water, and their young stages live in water.
• The young ones look very different from the adults; their shape changes a lot.
• Their habitat changes: young ones in water, adults out of water (mosquito) or on land and in water (frog).

• The shoot bends and grows upward, towards sunlight.
• The root bends and grows downward, into the soil.
• As we saw in beaker B of Activity 10.3, shoots always grow up and roots always grow down, whatever the position of the plant.

• They want to find out whether the direction in which the root and shoot grow depends on how the seed is placed.
• They will watch the seedlings for a few days. If, in every container, the root grows downward and the shoot upward no matter how the seed was placed, they will know the seed’s position does not matter.

1. Take three identical containers with moist cotton and 10 bean seeds in each.
2. Give each the same amount of water and air.
3. Keep one in a refrigerator (cold), one at room temperature, and one in a very warm place (near a warm spot, not on fire).
4. Keep all other conditions the same, and add a little water daily.
5. Count how many seeds germinate in each container over 5–7 days.

Expected result: seeds at room temperature germinate best; few or none germinate in the cold, and very high heat may also stop germination. So temperature affects germination.

She laid her spawn of jelly white,
Tiny dots that grew each night.
Out came tadpoles with a tail,
Swimming fast through pond and vale.
Then two legs, and then two more,
Froglets hopping to the shore.
The tail is gone, the frog is grown,
Croaking songs of its very own!