Answer Happy

Essay 1: Is a virus alive? Instructions 1. You should already have produced a draft of this essay and received feedback on it. The essay you submit here should be an improvement over your first draft. 2. Add a final statement (1-3 sentences) explaining how you incorporated peer feedback and/or learned from reviewing others' essays to improve your essay. If you did neither and did not submit a first draft, explain the benefits of writing an early draft and revising it later, and how you might plan for this in the future. Original essay prompt The following properties are shared by all things considered "living:" • They make and use the organic molecules of life (i.e., biomolecules) They consist of one or more cells. (Recall the four structures found in all cells.) They engage in self-sustaining biological processes such as metabolism and homeostasis. They change over their lifetime, such as by growing, maturing, and aging. They use DNA as their hereditary material when they reproduce. • They have the collective capacity to change over successive generations. (For example, by adapting to environmental pressures.) Write 1-2 paragraphs that address which of these properties are exhibited by viruses and which are not. Explain your reasoning for each and make sure you address all 6 properties. Then, incorporate answers to the following two questions: • Based on the properties of that viruses do and do not possess, can we consider viruses to be "alive?" Why or why not? If the outside of viruses is made of protein, why can't we defeat them by just spraying our bodies' inner and outer surfaces with proteases (protein-degrading enzymes), bleach, or other chemicals that would break them down?