A growing bacterial culture doubles in 1 hr; the increase in cell mass in 30 minutes will be:
A growing bacterial culture doubles in 1 hr; the increase in cell mass in 30 minutes will be:
Select an option to attempt
Correct Answer: Option C
Explanation
Exponential bacterial growth — increase in 30 minutes:For exponential (log-phase) growth with doubling timehour:Cell mass at time t:Atmin = 0.5 h:Percentage increase =Since 41.4% < 50%, the increase is LESS THAN 50%.Intuition: In linear growth, 30 min = half the doubling time = 50% increase. But in EXPONENTIAL growth, growth accelerates over time — the first half of the doubling period adds less than the second half. Hence the increase is less than 50%.Answer: Less than 50% (Option 3).