What Is Protoplasm - Protoplasm Definition

What Is Protoplasm?

The secret of protoplasm is the secret of life itself.

We still do not know what makes the protoplasm a living substance.

Protoplasm is the living part of every plant and animal.

All organisms, plants and animals, are composed of cells.

In one living organism can be millions of cells, as in human body, or just one – like in protozoa (pre-animals).

But the walls of the cells of all living beings wrap the same living matter – the protoplasm.

In each cell the protoplasm consists mainly of two parts: a stronger central part called the nucleus and the softer, liquid part which is called cytoplasm.

Every living specie has its own kind of protoplasm, and the different types of cells in the body have their own forms of protoplasm.

Although the protoplasm varies, up to 99 percent of its content consists of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, with traces of many other elements.

When a living beam enters the food it is first digested, ie. converted into liquid form. Then the digested food must be entered in the protoplasm and its stand-components: the process is known as assimilation. We still do not know exactly what is going on all the time during the assimilation.

It is known that the assimilation leads to the replacement of worn-out protoplasm and increase in the amount of protoplasm. During the assimilation, the protoplasm dissolves dead ingredients and incorporates them into living matter and changes them in substances similar to its composition. Protoplasm also accumulates and releases all the energy that plants and animals have.

Protoplasm is sensitive to external influences. Strong light and heat will kill her. Chemicals attract or reject the protoplasm; electric current causes in it different reactions.

If science someday discovers the essence of the processes within the protoplasm, we will then learn about the secrets of life itself.