Bacterial growth

Bacteria are tiny organisms that are too small to see without a special microscope. Bacteria can grow, or reproduce, very quickly - they can double in number every 10 to 20 minutes! Some bacteria are helpful, like those that live in our bodies and help us digest our food. But some bacteria can make us sick.

When bacteria reproduce, they make exact copies of themselves. This means that if we start with one single bacterium, after one hour we would have two bacteria, after two hours we would have four bacteria, after three hours we would have eight bacteria and so on! As more and more of the bacteria reproduce, the population of bacteria starts to increase rapidly.

Bacteria need food, water and the right temperature to be able to reproduce and grow. If there is enough food, water and the right temperature for the bacteria, the bacteria can grow very quickly.