What is life according to physics?

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The discussion centers on the nature of life and its relationship to atoms. It begins with a query about why some atoms constitute living things while others do not. The consensus is that atoms themselves are not alive; rather, it is the specific arrangements and information encoded within them that give rise to life. This perspective aligns with views from evolutionary biology, which emphasize the importance of cellular functions over the notion of "living cells." The conversation highlights the limitations of physics in addressing questions of life, suggesting that it primarily focuses on matter and energy interactions. The topic of life is complex and debated among scientists, with references made to fields like biophysics and concepts such as artificial life. Recommended resources include the book "Artificial Organisms" and the Biophysics Textbook Online for further exploration of these ideas.
benzun_1999
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dear readers,
everything in this world is made up of atoms. but how come certain things have life and certain thing don't have. do atoms have life like us? what is pecular about the atoms that cause life?
-benzun
no one is a expert other than god.who knows every thing?
 
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There is no "according to physics" here.

Physics quite intelligently avoids the question: it says "I have enough to worry about, go ask biology"!
 
Physics deals with interaction between matter and energy, not life.
 
benzun,
Life is a dicy concept. Even Biologists often find it more conventient to refer to "functioning cells" than "living cells". However, as to your question about whether atoms are alive like us, the answer is most assuredly "no". They meet none of the criteria that are used to determine life.
 
'It is not the atoms themselves, rather the information that is encoded in arrangements of atoms that is the basis of life.' At least this is the viewpoint of many scientists working in the fields evolutionary biology.

The question of how the concept of life fits into physics is a huge field of debate. For more info, I suggest you look up 'Artificial life' (or 'ALife) on google for a different perspective on the question of life, it is rather interseting, even if you do not quite agree with what is being suggested by the ALife movement.

The book 'Artificial Organisms' is also a very good read if you are interested in this kind of thing.

Claude.
 
'It is not the atoms themselves, rather the information that is encoded in arrangements of atoms that is the basis of life.'
That is close to my view, which is that life corresponds to a process, a certain form of complicated flow that we can subjectively identify.

But physics doesn't have an official line on this. Physicists disagree a lot over what life represents - as a brief look through the PF philosophy archives would show.
 
That doesn't prevent biophysics from having an active agenda:

http://www.biophysics.org/btol/
Biophysics Textbook OnLine

quart
 
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