Download solve these doubling time problems

Doubling Time Problems
Name: ___________________________________________
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1. The world population in 1992 is 5.42 billion. If its population doubled every
a. 41 years, what would its population be in 41 years?
b. 41 years, what would its population be in 82 years?
c. 82 years, what would its population be in 164 years?
2. A country has a doubling time for its people of 20 years. If it ends up with 80 million people after 60
years, how many people did it have to start with (in this question)?
3. The area covered by water lilies in a pond you own doubles in size every day. If allowed to grow,
the plants would cover the entire pond surface in 30 days. You have decided to do nothing until
the pond is ½ covered.
a. On what day will the pond be ½ covered?
b. How long do you have before you must act or have your pond covered with the plants?
4. One (1) bacterium, which divides in half to double its population once per minute, was placed in a
test tube with an appropriate bacterial environment (good nutrients). After 59 minutes the test tube
was ½ full.
a. When would it be expected to fill the tube?
b. Research and development makes a great discovery that allows the population to expand into 3
more tubes. How many more minutes can the bacteria double?
5. Human newborns usually weigh about 7.5 lb. at birth. They double that in 6 months. If its weight
continued to double every six months, how much would an average 5 year old weigh?
6. E. coli, a type of bacteria, divides once every 15 minutes. Calculate how many will exist after 24
hours if their biotic potential is infinite and its environmental resistance is zero.
Sources: ZPG, and various others
Thanksgiving Science Trivia
1. What is the genus and species of the turkey?
2. What is a snood?
3. How many pounds of turkey did the average American consume in the year 2008?
4. Why are cranberries described as epigynous?
5. Firearms hunting season for white tailed deer often begins close to Thanksgiving. In which five U.S.
states are white tailed deer not naturally found?
6. Approximately how many feathers does a mature turkey have?
7. By popular legend, how did male turkeys become known as “toms”?
8. Sweet potatoes are quite nutritious and provide the greatest percentage recommended daily
allowance of which vitamin?
9. According to a recent study, professional football players often suffer from dementia due to
repeated concussions. How much greater is a pro football player’s risk of dementia than that of an
average person?
10. Tryptophan is an essential amino acid found in turkey. Which codon specifies tryptophan?
11. Turkey meat may be categorized as dark meat or white meat. Which type is made of slow twitch
muscle fibers?
12. What pigments in leaves are responsible for the yellow, red, and orange colors seen in autumn
before deciduous trees drop their leaves?
13. Tryptophan in turkey has been blamed for making people feel sleepy after a meal. Tryptophan is
an essential amino acid that is a precursor for which neurotransmitter that might be associated with
sleepiness?
14. The correct term for the wishbone is the __________? It forms by the fusion of which other
bones?
15. Native Americans taught the Pilgrims to plant corn. Corn hundreds of years ago was probably
more similar in appearance and taste to what is now fed to animals. A mutation in a corn gene is
thought to have replaced starchiness with sugar. Name the gene that is responsible for this.
Answers
1. Meleagris gallopavo
2. The fleshy protuberance atop the beak is the snood
3. approx 20
4. An epigynous berry or false berry is an accessory fruit found in certain plant species with an inferior
ovary. In these species other parts of the flower (including the basal parts of the sepals, petals, and
stamens) can ripen along with the ovary, forming the false berry.
5. The species is most common east of the Rocky Mountains, and is absent from much of the western
United States, including Nevada, Utah, California, Hawaii, and Alaska (though its close relatives, the mule
deer and black-tailed deer Odocoileus hemionus, can be found there).
6. 3500
7. Franklin coined it after Thomas Jefferson who like the Bald Eagle for our nation's symbol
8. Vitamin A
9. 37% higher risk according to a recent study
10. UGG
11. dark meat
12. anthocyanins and carotenoids
13. serotonin
14. furcula, clavicles
15. Sugary1