Answer:
33 bacteria
Step-by-step explanation:
The growth of the bacteria culture follows an exponential growth model where the population triples every hour. In the work below, i used the bacteria as No and the time (in hours) as t.
The exponential growth formula is given by: N(t)=N0×3t
Given that after 5 hours (t=5), there are 8000 bacteria, we can set up the equation:8000=N0×35. Now, solve for N0: 8000=No x 3^5.
Calculating this, we find:N0=8000243≈32.92. So, there were approximately 32.92 bacteria initially before the five hours passed. Since the number of bacteria must be a whole number, we round this to the nearest whole number. Therefore, there were 33 bacteria initially.
