Population Growth - Bacteria Culture at 300 to 30000 in 4.32 Hrs

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around a population growth problem involving a bacteria culture that starts with 300 bacteria and grows at a rate proportional to its size. Participants are tasked with finding expressions for the number of bacteria over time, calculating specific population sizes, and determining growth rates.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Conceptual clarification, Mathematical reasoning

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants explore the mathematical model of exponential growth, attempting to derive expressions for population size and growth rates. There is a focus on verifying calculations and understanding the implications of the growth rate constant.

Discussion Status

Some participants have provided feedback on specific parts of the original poster's calculations, particularly questioning the approach to determining the growth rate after a set time. There is an ongoing exploration of the relationships between the variables involved in the problem.

Contextual Notes

Participants note potential discrepancies in the calculations and express uncertainty about the correctness of certain values derived from the exponential growth model. There is an emphasis on ensuring that the mathematical relationships are correctly applied.

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A bacteria culture starts with 300 bacteria and grows at a rate proportional to its size. After 3 hours, there are 9000 bacteria

A.) Find an expression for the number of bacteria after t hours. for this part, i got [tex]300*e^{1.133732*t}[/tex]

B.) Find the number of bacteria after 4 hours. well using the expression from above and subbing in 4, i get 27965.04104

C.) Find the growth rate after 4 hours. this just means that i need to solve for k right?
p(t) = 300e^{kt}
p(3) = 300e^{3k} = 9000
solved for k and got 1.133% right?

D.) After how many hours will the population reach 30000
well setting the equation from part A equal to 30000 and solved for t and got 4.319991


i know that at least one of these are wrong, but i can't figure out which one. can someone tell me what I am doing wrong?
 
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I think Part C is wrong. Isn't the growth rate = dp/dt = kp? (k is constant, by the way, and is equal to 1.133732). So use your answer from part B to get the answer to part C. (Simple as multiplying by k).
 
awesome, thanks for the help
 
ProBasket said:
A bacteria culture starts with 300 bacteria and grows at a rate proportional to its size. After 3 hours, there are 9000 bacteria

A.) Find an expression for the number of bacteria after t hours. for this part, i got [tex]300*e^{1.133732*t}[/tex]

B.) Find the number of bacteria after 4 hours. well using the expression from above and subbing in 4, i get 27965.04104

C.) Find the growth rate after 4 hours. this just means that i need to solve for k right?
p(t) = 300e^{kt}
p(3) = 300e^{3k} = 9000
solved for k and got 1.133% right?

D.) After how many hours will the population reach 30000
well setting the equation from part A equal to 30000 and solved for t and got 4.319991


i know that at least one of these are wrong, but i can't figure out which one. can someone tell me what I am doing wrong?
From problem statement:
{(dB/dt) = k*B} ⇒ B(t) = B0*exp(k*t)
{B(t=0) = 300} ⇒ B0 = 300
{B(t=3) = 9000} ⇒ 9000 = 300*exp{k*(3)} ⇒ k = (1/3)*Loge{9000/300} = (1.1337325)

ITEM #A:
B(t) = 300*exp{(1.1337325)*t}

ITEM #B:
B(4) = 300*exp{(1.1337325)*(4)} = (27,965 bacteria)

ITEM #C:
(dB/dt)t=4 = k*B(4) = (1.1337325)*(27965) = (31,705 bacteria/hr)

ITEM #D:
(30000) = 300*exp{(1.1337325)*t} ⇒ t = (1.1337325)(-1)*Loge{30000/300}
t = (4.06195 hr)


~~
 

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