Chapter 15, Problem 14PS

Summary Introduction

To determine:

The values in the table to be made and the way in which the bacterial population increases when a dish of potato salad is left on the kitchen counter after dinner, the reason for the change of increment of rate over time and to plot a graph for the values to be calculated in the table.

Introduction:

Bacteria are group of organisms that are very versatile in the course of their existence and they have a good and an exponential growth. They do not grow at a normal rate. They are found in almost all the realms of the Earth whether it may be as hot as a hot spring or as cold as a glacier.

Given:

The formula for calculating the number of cells in a population is as follows:

$\text{Number of cells in a population}=\text{initial number of cells}\times 2^{\text{number}\text{of}\text{generations}}$

Initial number of bacterial cells = $10$

Time (hours)	Number of generations	Number of bacteria
0		10
1	2	40
2	4	160
3	8	2560
4	12	40960
8	16	653360
10	20	10485760
12	24	167772160