Homeostasis — Science definition
Defined in 3 courses:
- Keeping internal conditions stable enough for the chemistry of life to continue; the characteristic a fire or a crystal most clearly lacks. (Life Science & Scientific Inquiry)
- Holding an internal condition inside a working range while the surroundings change; the range exists because enzymes function only within it. (Life Science & Scientific Inquiry)
- The maintenance of a stable internal environment (temperature, pH, water, glucose, and more) despite changes outside. (Life Science: Biology)
Where it is taught
- Characteristics of Life & Biological Diversity — Scientific Inquiry & Diversity of Life, Life Science & Scientific Inquiry, Grade 7
- Homeostasis, Feedback & Interacting Systems — Coordination, Defense & Reproduction, Life Science & Scientific Inquiry, Grade 7
- Homeostasis & Feedback — Body Systems, Signals & Homeostasis, Life Science: Biology, Grade 10
In use
That last one is homeostasis, and it is the characteristic the fire and the crystal most clearly fail — a fire does not regulate its own temperature, it simply burns until the fuel runs out.
Characteristics of Life & Biological Diversity
Holding a condition steady while the surroundings change is homeostasis, and it is one of the characteristics of life from Chapter 1.
Homeostasis, Feedback & Interacting Systems
Homeostasis is the answer to that mismatch: the active maintenance of a stable internal environment despite whatever is happening outside.
Homeostasis & Feedback
Questions using homeostasis
Problem 1
Answer and explanation
No. Regulation can maintain functioning ranges while values vary with conditions.
Problem 2
- maintaining a stable internal environment despite changes outside
- the total lack of any internal change
- the process of a cell dividing
- the buildup of waste inside a cell
Answer and explanation
maintaining a stable internal environment despite changes outside
Homeostasis is the active maintenance of stable internal conditions (temperature, pH, glucose, water) even as the outside world changes.
Problem 3
Answer and explanation
The selectively permeable membrane controls what enters and leaves, and transport processes (diffusion, osmosis, facilitated diffusion, and active transport) let the cell take in needed materials like glucose and oxygen, remove wastes, and balance water and ions. Together they keep the cell's internal conditions steady, which is homeostasis at the cellular level.
Taught alongside
- organism
- prokaryotic
- eukaryotic
- classification
- feedback
- negative feedback
- hormone
- target cell
- set point
- stimulus
- receptor
- effector
- positive feedback