Bacteria Population Growth

The population of microorganisms can grow and create a exponentially increasing number of microorganisms.
==Binary Fission==
Bacteria will divide and reproduce that way. Most bacteria take 15 minutes to an hour per growth cycle, but slower bacteria like mycobacteria can take up to a few days to divide.
==Growth Curve==
#Lag stage: Bacteria adapts to environment, changing metabolism, and not growing very fast.
#Exponential growth phase: Bacteria grows at an exponential rate. Binary fission happens here. Bacteria in this phase are considered young.
#Stationary phase: Death rate increases because carrying capacity is reached, to the point where death rate is equal to growth phase. Population stays constant. Bacteria in this phase are considered mature.
#Death phase: Bacterial growth declines and resources are depleted. Viable bacterial population declines to near zero, but some cells usually remain viable. Bacteria in this phase are considered old.
==Counting Colonies==
Usually, it is too hard to determine how many bacteria are in a sample because it is really hard to count a billion colonies. A few methods for counting microorganism colonies have been
A serial diltution is used to create less concentrated samples. We count plates that have 25 to 250 colony forming units. Anything more is labled "too numerous to count"