Answer the following questions and complete the table below for the cell in our example to go
through 40 doubling times.
How many days have elapsed after 10 doubling times?
Approximately how many years is this number of days?
How many cells are present after 10 doubling times? Ten million cells would occupy a space about as big as the period at the end of this sentence. One hundred million cells are about 1 mm in diameter. If you look at a ruler with SI units, you can clearly see 1 mm.
After ten doubling times, would you be able to see the mass of cells?
How many doubling times would be required for the mass of cells to reach 1 mm? It is estimated that in order for a mass of cells to become visible, for example in a mammogram, the mass must be about 1 cm. That's about 100 billion cells.
Approximately how many doubling times are required for 100 billion cells?