Physics AP
Mr. Woods
April 26, 2015
Viruses: Living or Not
What is a Virus? Is it alive or not? What is its purpose within the ecosystem? So many questions can be asked about paradoxes of the virus. But over the the years have made many discoveries on the viruses and through those discoveries many questions have been answered. A Virus is not a plant, an animal or a bacteria. It should be said that viruses are hard to be considered living at all. They seem very alien to all other organisms as if they are not part of this world. Truth is, viruses have been around since the dawn of life on planet earth. If you were to look around you would see a world covered with viruses; if it were possible to see them. They are the most …show more content…
Viruses are smaller than even the wavelength of light which makes it impossible to see under a microscope that uses visible light. For most of our existence the virus nature has been filled with only tiny pieces of information. Viruses are found in almost every ecosystem on Earth and are the most abundant type of biological entity. They have the ability to host on many different lifeforms such as plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi. The viruses that infect plants are harmless to animals, and most viruses that infect other animals are harmless to humans. Viruses are found wherever there is life and have probably existed since living cells first evolved. It’s hard to study the the origins of viruses since they leave nothing behind so we can’t pinpoint the time viruses came about(Where …show more content…
There can be a breakthrough technology that propel human life down to cellular level. Disease caused by viruses are still rampant and there are many much needed cures to be synthesized. We need to understand why are viruses are so effective at spreading across the world with ease. And the origins of the virus is still the missing link that can can help us solve all these questions. However no matter how many centuries or millennia will go or no matter if its living or not the virus will still be there to affect biological