Final answer:
Using the formula for exponential growth, the number of bacteria after 24 hours, when starting with 130 bacteria and doubling every 8 hours, would be 1040.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student is asking about the exponential growth of a bacteria population in a lab experiment. Given that there are 130 bacteria initially and the population doubles every 8 hours, we want to find out how many bacteria there would be after 24 hours. To solve this, we can use the formula for exponential growth, which is P(t) = P0 × 2t/D, where P(t) is the population at time t, P0 is the initial population, and D is the doubling time in the same units as t. In this case, P0 = 130, t = 24 hours, and D = 8 hours.
Using the formula, we calculate the number of bacteria after 24 hours:
P(24) = 130 × 224/8 = 130 × 23 = 130 × 8 = 1040.
Therefore, after 24 hours, there would be 1040 bacteria in the petri dish, to the nearest whole number. This illustrates the concept of exponential growth, where the population size increases at a rapidly accelerating rate over time.