"The mathematics of uncontrolled growth are frightening. A single cell of the bacterium E. coli would, under ideal circumstances, divide every twenty minutes. That is not particularly disturbing until you think about it, but the fact is that bacteria multiply geometrically: one becomes two, two become four, four become eight, and so on. In this way it can be shown that in a single day, one cell of E. coli could produce a super-colony equal in size and weight to the entire planet Earth."
Michael Crichton (1969) The Andromeda Strain, Dell, N.Y. p247
The frightening statement in Crichton's book may seem like science fiction, and if we take the pragmatic approach of a biologist, it sounds implausible and unrealistic. However, with the assumptions of "ideal circumstances", the mathematics behind this statement is surprisingly robust.
Suppose that the mass of one E. coli bacterium is approximately 1 x 10^(-12) grams. The mass of the earth is approximately 5.9763 x 10^(24) kilograms.
1. Is Michael Crichton's statement correct? Is his statement ridiculous or is it nearly correct?
2. Calculate the time required for the single E. coli bacterium to multiply
to a colony having mass equal to that of the earth.
Assignment #1
