1.how did scientists discover that all living things are made of cells? 2. how did pasteur’s experiment with the flasks disprove the idea that living things could just appear or come from nonliving things like water and air? 3. why are nutrients needed for living things? describe the difference between living and nonliving things

1. The discovery of cells can be credited to Robert Hooke who first observed and described the microscopic images of a cork and likened them to the shape of cells and hence we now call them cells. At about the same time there was also another man, named Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, who made significant contributions to the discovery of cells in living things but more particularly of bacteria. He is known as the "Father of Microbiology."

2. For the longest time before the advent of the microscopy we know now, people thought that things just appear out of thin air. This was known as the theory of spontaneous generation. People back then believed that maggots arose from rotting meat, and some other fanciful events. Louis Pasteur disproved this idea with his swan-necked flasks experiment wherein he isolated nutrient broth inside a flask by bending the long neck of the bottle. This effectively eliminated entrance of flies and also of other microorganisms and thus no spontaneous generation occurred.

3. Nutrients are needed for living things because their biological functions require it. These are the macronutrients of protein, fats, and sugars. Proteins are needed to build more cells; sugar is needed for energy; fats are needed for storage of excess energy and also for thermoregulation. Nonliving things are the complete opposite of this. They are usually inorganic (e.g. water, metals, etc.)