That 'is' the Dalek, a mutant creature. All the metal surrounding it is battle armour and life support.
daleks
Carbon doesn't get into living things. All living things are constituted of carbon. This is why we have carbon inside us.
Many. You may remember the Genesis Ark from the episode Doomsday, which stored millions of Daleks inside of it. These aren't even the only ones, as in Journey's End, there are about that many Daleks again. So, in short, it is impossible to count the number of Daleks appearing on Doctor Who.
Daleks have a strict caste system, daleks are born into various roles. The bronze daleks in the Parliament of the Daleks are regular rank and file soldier daleks.
in 1963, the first aliens the first doctor encountered were the daleks. the daleks looked a lot different to the daleks we have now. terry nation created the daleks and have been around for nearly 300 years! these are the dalek stories we have seen so far... the daleks, the dalek invasion of earth, the chase, the daleks' master plan, the power of the daleks, the evil of the daleks, doctor who and the daleks, daleks' invasion earth 2150AD, day of the daleks, planet of the daleks, death to the daleks, genisis of the daleks, destiny of the daleks, ressurection of the daleks, revalation of the daleks, rememberence of the daleks, dalek, bad wolf, the parting of the ways, doomsday, daleks in manhatten, evolotion of the daleks, the stolen earth, journeys end, victory of the daleks......
The Daleks are living creatures, mutated members of the Kaled race, bred by the scientist Davros. Their physical bodies have differed depending on the season, but they are typically blob-like creatures, with tentacles, and a single eye. These mutants are placed inside a mobile suit of battle armour.
Biologist
Neon is chemically inert. It doesnt react with any other element and (to the best of my knowledge) has no role in living things. So I would comment that the element neon is not found inside living things.
Plants.
organelles
Why it started has never been mentioned but the Daleks want to wipe out every other living thing in the universe so they wouldn't really need to have a reason to go to war.
Viruses depend on living cells because they reproduce inside of them.