A microbiologist inoculates a flask of broth with 1 ml of 100 bacterial cells/ml. The generation time of the species is 1 hour, and there is no lag phase. How long will it be before the culture contains more than 6,000 cells/ml?

Six hours

Explanation:

Given that;

A microbiologist inoculates a flask of broth with 1 ml of 100 bacterial cells/ml

Also, the generation time of the species is 1 hour and there is no lag phase

i. e there is no period where the individual bacteria are maturing, this will enhance a faster replication

So, since the generation time is 1 hour and we are being given 100 bacterial cells/ml

∴

After 1 hour = replication of the bacterial cells would have been doubled to = 200 bacterial cells

2nd hour = 400 bacterial cells

3rd hour = 800 bacterial cells

4th hour = 1600 bacterial cells

5th hour = 3200 bacterial cells

6th hour = 6400 bacterial cells

∴ We can see that at the 6th hour, the culture has contained more than 6,000 cells/ml