Question

Under favorable conditions, bacteria can multiply every 20 minutes. Starting with one bacteria cell, how many bacteria should you expect after 3 hours? Hint: Under favorable conditions, if one bacterium becomes 2 in 20 minutes (1 multiplied by 2), those 2 become 4 in the next 20 minutes, and then those 4 become 8 in the next 20 minutes. That means that 8 bacteria resulted in 1 hour. Now calculate the growth of bacteria for 3 hours.

Answer 1

24

Answer 2

use this observation:
the population doubles every 20 minutes

so 8 in 1hr
how many in 1hr 20 min ?

Answer 3

10

Answer 4

@baru Is it not 24?

Answer 5

no

Answer 6

OHHH

Answer 7

the population DOUBLES EVERY TWENTY MINUTES

so if there are 8 at time= 1hr
there should be double of that in 1hr 20 min

so there should be 8*2=16 at 1hr 20 min

followed?

Answer 8

if theyre are 8 in an hour, surely in 3 hours theyre will be 24. Am i not correct in that matter?

Answer 9

1hr and 40 mins would be 32?

Answer 10

@Gokuporter yes,
so keep going that way until you hit 3hrs,
it will be a pretty big number

Answer 11

512?

Answer 12

@Fruitcakeninja if the question said 'number of bacteria increases by 8 every hour'
your answer would be correct,

but the situation here is that the population doubles every 20 minutes

Answer 13

OOOOOO, didnt see that.

Answer 14

yep,512 looks good

Answer 15

:)

Answer 16

Now i look like an idiot thanks @baru

Answer 17

making mistakes is the only way to get better at something :)