Living or non living?

Question

Are these things living or nonliving?!

(if they were once living then there considered living)

cork

flame

shell

coal

thanks!:)

Answer 1

Obviouslsy, cork comes from a tree, shell is an exoskeleton of an animal, and coal is usually considered to arise from ancient algae and other organic material. (However, some believe that there is an abiotic explanation for coal and oil -- that is, they think there are processes in the earth which produce coal from non-living materials. But that is very controversial.)

"Flame" is more ambiguous. Many fuels (from firewood to oil to leaves and natural gas) are derived from organic sources and the flame during oxidation is a release of energy that ultimately came from the sun and entered the food chain in the form of plant materials, etc.

But the flame itself can't be said to be alive in any organic sense.  So your question makes me wonder about its context.