Question

Bacillus cereus is a soil-dwelling bacterium that sometimes causes food poisoning. Each cell divides to form two new cells every 30 min. If a culture starts out with exactly 100 bacterial cells, how many bacteria will be present after 3 hr.?

Answer 1

Answer: There are 6400 bacteria that will be present after 3 hours.

Step-by-step explanation:

Since we have given that

Initial number of bacterial cells = 100

Each cell divides to form two new cells every 30 minutes.

Number of hours = 3 hrs

Number of minutes in 3 hours = 3\times 60 = 180 minutes

Number of 30 minutes in 3 hours = $\dfrac{180}{30}=6$

So, our equation becomes,

$P(x)=ab^x\\\\P(3)=100(2)^6\\\\P(3)=6400$

Hence, there are 6400 bacteria that will be present after 3 hours.