Are Viruses Alive????????????????

Well there are certain characteristics that technically make up an organism, and a virus doens't have all of them. But to me, if that matters, I consider anything that can attack my body, reproduce in some way, and continue to do so as being alive. According to this site, viruses are right on the border of being alive and non living.

Are Viruses Alive

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Viruses consist of two or three parts: all viruses have genes made from either DNA or RNA, long molecules that carry genetic information; all have a protein coat that protects these genes; and some have an envelope of fat that surrounds them when they are outside a cell,but they aren't alive outside an organism.they become living organisms when they invade living cells and multiply themselves in them.

Viruses are right on the border of being alive and non living

Viruses are consider non-living as they can not reproduce on their own. They must invade a host cell, inject it's DNA into the DNA of the host cell, making the host cell a virus factory.

virus is non living but it can multiply through host cell....A virus (from the Latin virus meaning toxin or poison) is a sub-microscopic infectious agent that is unable to grow or reproduce outside a host cell. Viruses infect all cellular life. The first known virus, tobacco mosaic virus, was discovered by Martinus Beijerinck in 1899,and now more than 5,000 types of virus have been described. The study of viruses is known as virology, and is a branch of microbiology.

No, viruses are not alive. Neither are prions (infectious particle believed to cause mad cow disease). One definition of life is the ability for the organism to procreate sexually or asexually. A virus relies on a host, like prions. Therefore, it does not fit one of the criteria for "alive."

yes because they reproduce

Well ,I think that they are alive because they reproduce also because they attack organisms bodies and this is not easy for nonliving things to do also because when they are put under microscopes scientists could see their actions and this is not easy for nonliving things to do while some nonliving things have some of living things characteristics but generally I think that they are living things for all those reactions.

As the above author correctly pointed out, no, viruses are not alive and replicated by attaching to other things. They don't meet the criteria for life.

They're nasty little critters as are prions (weirdly shaped proteins) but they're not alive.