Final answer:
All living things absorb nutrients and energy until death, which they require for growth, reproduction, and maintenance. Energy is primarily obtained through photosynthesis or consumption of other organisms, and this process aligns with the second law of thermodynamics.
Step-by-step explanation:
All living things absorb nutrients and energy until death. This is a fundamental aspect of biology because growth, reproduction, and maintenance of living systems require a continual supply of energy and matter. Photosynthesis is crucial as it allows autotrophs to convert solar energy into chemical energy which is then used to build carbohydrate molecules that ultimately provide the needed energy for living organisms, either directly or through the food chain.
Heterotrophs, such as humans, cannot make their own food, so they must eat or absorb it. They rely on autotrophs or other heterotrophs for their nutrients. Some organisms can switch between photosynthesis and absorbing nutrients from dead organisms, depending on conditions. These are called protists. The cycle of matter is continuous, with atoms being on loan from the universe, incorporated into our bodies through what we consume and then returned back to the earth after we pass away.
The process of energy transfer also plays into the second law of thermodynamics, wherein each transfer results in some loss of usable energy, increasing the entropy of the universe. Despite this, living organisms maintain a high degree of order and low entropy locally, even though universally, entropy is constantly increasing. All these processes remain in effect from the moment an organism comes into being until its death.