Final answer:
The doubling time for bacteria varies greatly depending on the species and environmental conditions, with E. coli capable of doubling every 20 minutes under optimal conditions but others, like M. tuberculosis and M. leprae, taking much longer.
Step-by-step explanation:
The approximate time range needed for most bacteria to divide and for the population to double, known as the doubling time or generation time, can vary significantly. For example, the common laboratory bacteria Escherichia coli can double in just 20 minutes under optimal conditions.
However, this time can be much longer in harsh environments. Pathogens typically grow quickly, though there are exceptions like Mycobacterium tuberculosis with a doubling time of 15-20 hours, and M. leprae, causing leprosy, with a 14-day doubling time.
During growth in a closed system, bacterial cells go through four phases: lag, logarithmic (exponential), stationary, and death.
The exponential phase shows a J-shaped growth curve when plotted over time on an arithmetic scale. However, when plotted on a semilogarithmic scale, it appears linear because the population size increases at an increasing rate.
Understanding the concept of exponential growth is crucial when considering bacterial replication.
For instance, in a hypothetical experiment where bacteria double every 10 minutes, a jar starting with a single bacterium at midnight would be half full at 23:50, just 10 minutes before becoming completely full after 24 hours.