In a lab experiment, a virus culture starts with 1,500 particles. After 6 hours, it grows to 48,000 particles. Assuming exponential growth, what is the doubling time in hours?

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 01:23:39 +0000

**How In a lab experiment, a virus culture starts with 1,500 particles. After 6 hours, it grows to 48,000 particles. Assuming exponential growth, what is the doubling time in hours?**
In a lab experiment, a virus culture begins with just 1,500 particles—but within just six hours, the count jumps to 48,000. This rapid rise has sparked interest across science communities and public discourse. The question is simple yet meaningful: under exponential growth, how often do virus particles double? Understanding this helps demystify biological processes and fuels curiosity about rapid cell cultures used in research and biotech. This pattern—starting small, then multiplying exponentially—reveals the power of biological replication under ideal conditions. Though this example involves controlled lab settings, similar dynamics inform studies on infection rates, vaccine development, and infectious disease modeling. The discipline of exponential growth modeling is key to predicting how organisms or molecules build up over time. Assuming consistent environmental factors, the virus culture doubles when particle count increases by a factor of two. To find the doubling time, begin with initial and final counts: 1,500 particles grow to 48,000. That’s 48,000 ÷ 1,500 = 32 times growth over just six hours—meaning 32 = 2⁵. Thus, the culture doubles 5 times in 6 hours. Dividing 6 by 5 gives the doubling time: 6 ÷ 5 = 1.2 hours. So, each doubling takes 1 hour and 12 minutes. This calculation reveals exponential patterns that influence lab design, timing of measurements, and data interpretation. While real-world applications differ, grasping doubling time offers practical insight into growth rates relevant across industries—from biotech innovation to public health research.