A bacteria culture doubles every 15 minutes. If there are now 500 bacteria in the culture...
How many will there be in an hour.
N= 500 (2) ^60/15
The answer is 8000 but I am getting 1 x 10^12 what am I doing wrong?
500
1,000
2,000
4,000
8,000
To find out how many bacteria will be in the culture after an hour, you need to use the exponential growth equation: N = P * (2^(t / d)), where:
- N is the final number of bacteria
- P is the initial number of bacteria
- t is the time elapsed
- d is the doubling time
In this case, P (the initial number of bacteria) is 500, t (the time elapsed) is 60 minutes, and d (the doubling time) is 15 minutes.
Thus, the correct calculation would be:
N = 500 * (2^(60 / 15))
N = 500 * (2^4)
N = 500 * 16
N = 8,000
Therefore, the correct answer is 8,000 bacteria, not 1 x 10^12.