In living organisms, the formation and breakdown of substances occur through chemical reactions. These chemical reactions are collectively known as:

In living organisms,the amount of free energy in entropy . . . . . . .

The synthesis of biological molecules is a $......$ process.

Statement $X$: All the various biochemical reactions occurring in every cell of a living organism are collectively called 'metabolism'.
Statement $Y$: Growth occurs when the rate of anabolic processes is greater than the rate of catabolic processes.

The reason why energy transfer or transformation is not $100 \%$ efficient is due to:

Which of the following statements best describes metabolism?