Final answer:
The generation time, also known as doubling time, is the time it takes for a population of cells to double through one round of binary fission. In this case, the generation time is approximately 28.29 minutes.
Step-by-step explanation:
The generation time, also known as doubling time, is the time it takes for a population of cells to double through one round of binary fission. In this case, the bacteria population started with 6,610 cfu/ml at noon and reached 400,100,000 cfu/ml at 8 pm. To find the generation time, we need to calculate the number of generations that occurred during that time.
Number of generations = log2(final population/initial population)
Number of generations = log2(400,100,000/6,610) ≈ 16.92
Since there are 60 minutes in an hour, the generation time in minutes can be calculated by:
Generation time = total time (in minutes) / number of generations
Generation time = 8 hours x 60 minutes / 16.92 ≈ 28.29 minutes
Therefore, the generation time is approximately 28.29 minutes.