Structure of Living Organisms

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Structure of living organisms Living organisms are made up of quarks, sub-atomic particles, atoms, molecules, cells, tissues, organs and organ systems. A quark is a basic particle and a important component of matter. Quarks combine to form compound particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. There are six types of quarks, known as flavors: up, down, strange, charm, bottom, and top. Up and down quarks have the lowest masses of all quarks. The heavier quarks rapidly change into up and down quarks through a process of particle decay: the transformation from a higher mass state to a lower mass state. Because of this, up and down quarks are generally stable and the most common in the universe. Subatomic particles are the particles smaller than an atom. Although some subatomic particles have a greater mass than some atoms. Subatomic particles are made of quarks such as a proton which is made of two up quarks and one down quark. The atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense nucleus surrounded by negatively charged electrons. The atomic nucleus contains a mix of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons. The electrons of an atom are bound to the nucleus by the electromagnetic force. A group of atoms can remain bound to each other by chemical bonds based on the same force, forming a molecule. An atom containing an equal number of protons and electrons is neutral; otherwise it is positively or negatively charged and is known as an ion. An atom is classified according to the number of protons and neutrons in its nucleus the number of protons controls the element, and the number of neutrons determines the isotope of the element. A molecule is an electrically neutral group of two or more atoms held together by chemical bonds Molecules are recognized from ions by their lack of

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