Sociobiologist E.O. WilsonIt said, that bacteria which have not reproduced to form colonies are presumed to be dead. Given the right environment and nutrients, living bacteria reproduce every half hour or so, which is why, over a 12 hour night, a single bacteria which divides and then divides again every half hour will generate a population of 224 bacteria. That's about 17,000,000 bacteria, and even though individual bacteria are invisible to the naked eye, that number of them produces a visible growth on the surface of the Petri dish.
It's very convenient for microbiologists that bacteria reproduce so rapidly. If bacteria reproduced once a day, it would take 24 days to get the same population. If bacteria reproduced once a year, then it would take 24 years. In that circumstance, microbiologists would have to find some quicker way of determining whether bacteria were alive or not. They can't wait 24 years to find out whether something is alive or not. They'd quite likely be dead themselves by the time the results were produced.
It's very convenient for microbiologists that bacteria reproduce so rapidly. If bacteria reproduced once a day, it would take 24 days to get the same population. If bacteria reproduced once a year, then it would take 24 years. In that circumstance, microbiologists would have to find some quicker way of determining whether bacteria were alive or not. They can't wait 24 years to find out whether something is alive or not. They'd quite likely be dead themselves by the time the results were produced.
