Final answer:
The question pertains to exponential growth and the concept of doubling-time as illustrated by a population of bacteria within a Mason jar filling up near the end of a time period. The Mason jar is half full at 11:50 PM if it doubles in population every ten minutes and is fully populated by midnight.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question "How many M&Ms can a Mason jar hold?" is actually a guise for an inquiry into exponential growth, specifically in the context of a population of bacteria growing within a contained environment such as a Mason jar. This is a classic illustration used to convey the concept of doubling time and exponential growth rates. To address this, we explore how a population that doubles at regular intervals will behave over time.When examining a scenario where the capacity of the jar represents a limit and the population doubles every ten minutes, we can determine pivotal moments leading up to the jar being filled. At 11:50 PM, the jar is at half its capacity, and then at midnight, it is completely full. This demonstrates that with exponential growth, the visible change occurs mostly at the end of the growth period.
If we have four jars of bacteria, and each jar's population is doubling every ten minutes, starting with one full jar at midnight, we would have two full jars at 12:10 AM, and four full jars by 12:20 AM. The subject here is the exponential population growth and how quickly resources (in this case, space within the jars) can be consumed.
To test whether average contents differ between types of candy, a Candy Survey could be conducted using specific packages of chocolates and comparing them with packages of peanut butter candies with the same net weight. While this does provide a practical exercise in statistical analysis, it is distinct from the main topic of exponential growth.