I recall in a high school biology class, a classmate asked whether atoms were alive. The teacher was kind, but perplexed. She went into detail about how cells, which we do consider to be alive, are built out of molecules (not alive), which are built from atoms (not alive), etc. I’m not sure the question asker had ever considered that cells are not the same as atoms 🤔
I can see where some confusion might come from with a student who doesn’t really pay attention or care. Both cells and atoms are tiny and contain a “nucleus” so If you are working with barely understood half remembered facts it might get confusing.
I recall in a high school biology class, a classmate asked whether atoms were alive. The teacher was kind, but perplexed. She went into detail about how cells, which we do consider to be alive, are built out of molecules (not alive), which are built from atoms (not alive), etc. I’m not sure the question asker had ever considered that cells are not the same as atoms 🤔
I can see where some confusion might come from with a student who doesn’t really pay attention or care. Both cells and atoms are tiny and contain a “nucleus” so If you are working with barely understood half remembered facts it might get confusing.
A confused question but actually it’s not stupid… the line between living and non-living isn’t 100% clear.