Question

A bacteria culture initially contains 3000 bacteria and doubles every half hour.

find the size of the baterial population after 40 minutes.

Answer 1

The size of the bacterial population after 40 minutes is 24000.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find the size of the bacterial population after 40 minutes, we need to determine how many times the bacteria doubles in that time period. Since the bacteria doubles every half hour, it will double 4 times in 2 hours. Therefore, in 40 minutes (which is two-thirds of a half hour), the bacteria will double 2 times.

Starting with 3000 bacteria, the number of bacteria after each doubling can be calculated as follows:

1. 3000 bacteria
2. 6000 bacteria
3. 12000 bacteria
4. 24000 bacteria

So, after 40 minutes, the size of the bacterial population will be 24000.