about how many bacteria (e coli) would you have to line up to stretch 1mm??
Do you happen to know the diameter of a single cell of E. Coli?
56
To determine the number of bacteria (E. coli) required to line up and stretch 1mm, we need to know the size of the bacteria and their arrangement.
The average size of an E. coli bacterium ranges from 1-2 micrometers (µm) in length. To convert this to millimeters (mm), we divide by 1000:
1 µm = 0.001 mm
Therefore, an E. coli bacterium measures roughly 0.001-0.002 mm in length.
Now, we assume a scenario where the bacteria are lined up end to end, with no gaps between them. In this case, we can simply divide the length we want to cover (1 mm) by the length of a single bacterium.
Considering the larger length of an E. coli bacterium (0.002 mm), we divide 1 mm by 0.002 mm:
1 mm / 0.002 mm = 500 bacteria
So, you would need approximately 500 E. coli bacteria lined up end to end to stretch 1mm.