Did a lab on the lac operon, assayed twice for beta-galactosidase in cultures containing different respiratory substrates. Because we assayed at 1 hrs & 5 hrs, the absorbance for the assays will be greater at 5 hrs simply because there are more bacteria producing the enzyme. But this does not indicate well how much enzyme was produced per bacteria, so how do i normalise the values?
Apparently this is done by dividing the absorbance by the dry weight, but this gives ludicrous values, help? :)

Question

Did a lab on the lac operon, assayed twice for beta-galactosidase in cultures containing different respiratory substrates. Because we assayed at 1 hrs & 5 hrs, the absorbance for the assays will be greater at 5 hrs simply because there are more bacteria producing the enzyme. But this does not indicate well how much enzyme was produced per bacteria, so how do i normalise the values? 
Apparently this is done by dividing the absorbance by the dry weight, but this gives ludicrous values, help? :)