A colony of bacteria is made up of (5) cells. Asuuming that no cells die and that every cell divides, how many cells will there be in the colony after four divisions?
a 20
b 80
c 160
d 625
I'm thinking its b.
I think 1 cell divided 5 times is
25 = ??
Then 5 times that for 5 cells.
^ no, in the exercise it's 4 divisions so it must be 2^4
then multiple to 5
So every time you divide the number before is multiplied by two. So you multiply by two for every example.
5*2*2*2*2
Which would become
5*2^4
=80
To determine the number of cells in the colony after four divisions, you need to understand the process of bacterial cell division. Bacterial cells typically divide through a process called binary fission.
During binary fission, one bacterial cell splits into two daughter cells, each having an identical genetic makeup as the parent cell. The process continues over subsequent generations, leading to an exponential increase in the number of bacterial cells.
In this scenario, the initial colony consists of 5 cells. Each of these cells will undergo four divisions, resulting in new cells being produced in each generation. To calculate the total number of cells after four divisions, we can use the formula:
Total number of cells = Initial number of cells × (Number of cells produced per division)^(Number of divisions)
In binary fission, each parent cell produces two daughter cells in each division. Thus, the number of cells produced per division is 2.
Plugging in the numbers into the formula:
Total number of cells = 5 × 2^4
Total number of cells = 5 × 16
Total number of cells = 80
Therefore, the correct answer is b) 80 cells.