a microbiologist inoculates a growth medium with 100 bacterial cells/ml. If the generation time of the species is 1 hour, how long (in hours) will it be before the culture contains 10000 cells/ml?

7 hours

Explanation:

Given, generation time of the species is 1 hour which means that after every 1 hour the cells double in number.

At 0 time = 100 cells/ml

After 1 hours = 200 cells/ml

After 2 hours = 400 cells/ml

After 3 hours = 800 cells/ml

After 4 hours = 1600 cells/ml

After 5 hours = 3200 cells/ml

After 6 hours = 6400 cells/ml

After 7 hours = 12800 cells/ml

Thus, after 7 hours the culture will contain approximately 10000 cells/ml.

Answer: guessing it could be 5 1/2 hours