26Exponential growth, doubling
A bacteria culture starts with 500 bacteria and doubles every 4 hours. How many bacteria are there after 1 day? A) 3,000 B) 6,000 C) 12,000 D) 32,000
After 1 day there are 32,000 bacteria, answer D. One day is 24 hours, which is 6 doubling periods of 4 hours each, so 500 × 2⁶ = 500 × 64 = 32,000.