Question

Question 39

2 pts
If a single bacterial cell with a generation time of 20 minutes is placed in a nutrient broth and incubated at a temperature that supports optimal growth, how many cells will be present after 2 hours?
You may use calculator
A. 32
B. 512
C. 16
D. 64

Answer 1

Answer: The correct option is B. 512.

Step-by-step explanation:

Generation time is the time it takes for a population to double. In this case, the generation time is 20 minutes.

We can use the formula Nf = Ni × 2^(n/g), where Nf is the final number of cells, Ni is the initial number of cells, n is the number of generations, and g is the generation time.

Here, we are starting with one bacterial cell (Ni = 1) and incubating for 2 hours (120 minutes).

We can calculate the number of generations as follows:

n = (total time) / (generation time) = 120 / 20 = 6

Now we can plug in the values:

Nf = 1 × 2^(6/1) = 1 × 2^6 = 64 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 = 512

Therefore, after 2 hours, there will be 512 bacterial cells present in the nutrient broth.