Final answer:
Animated particles can refer to souls, or scientifically, fundamental particles like electrons, protons, and neutrons. Biologists consider 'alive' organisms to have certain characteristics such as order and energy processing. Modern physics relates life and matter through particle-wave duality and energy connections.
Step-by-step explanation:
Between the living and the dead are animated particles called souls or, in a more scientific context, fundamental particles such as electrons, protons, and neutrons. The nature of the soul has been a topic of philosophical and religious discourse for centuries, often defining it as the principle of life.
However, from a scientific perspective, the fundamental particles that make up atoms were formed in the early universe and later combined to form the elements found on Earth's crust. When discussing what defines an organism as 'alive', biologists point to characteristics like order and the ability to process energy.
Non-living objects possess order but lack the complex biological processes of living organisms. This crosses into areas of particle-wave duality and the broader connections between matter and energy explored in modern physics, which unites previously separate concepts of what constitutes life and matter.