Name:

_______________________

Pennies Lab (Exponential Growth and Decay)

Part 1: Modeling Exponential Growth Penny Activity

The purpose of this lab is to provide a simple model to illustrate exponential growth of bacteria. In our
experiment, a penny represents one bacterium. We will conduct 15 trials and record the number of
bacteria on the table. (gross, right?)

Exponential Growth Procedure
1) Place 2 pennies in a cup. This is trial number 0.
2) Shake the cup and dump out the pennies. For every penny that lands heads-up, add another penny
and then record the new population. (Ex. If 5 pennies land heads-up, then you add 5 more pennies)
3) Repeat step number 2 until you are done with 15 trials OR you run out of pennies.

Trial # 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
# of
pennies 2
(bacteria)



4) Graph your data (scatterplot) with the trial number on the x-axis and the number of pennies on the y-
axis.























Exponential Growth Discussion
5) Should your graph touch the x-axis? Why or why not?


 6) After each time you shook the cup, approximate the percentage of pennies that landed heads-up by
looking at your table. _______________

To calculate the percentage, we will calculate the percent change for each trial using the formula
below.

pennies in trial 1 pennies in trial 0 = new amount old amount
pennies in phase 0 old amount

Complete the table below.

Trial # 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Percent
(write as a x
decimal)

Calculate the average of ALL the percentages: ___________________

7) We can write an exponential growth function that models the data above using the formula
F = I(1+ r)t .

Initial amount of pennies I = _____________
Rate of growth (calculated in #6) r = _____________ (written as a decimal)
Time (this represents a specific trial #) t = # of repetitions

Fill in the variables to write your own exponential growth model ___________________________________.

8) Use your exponential growth model to predict the number of bacteria there would be in:

Trial 25 _______________ Trial 50 _______________


Part 2: Modeling Exponential Decay Penny Activity

9) Count the total number of pennies you have. Record this number in trial 0.
10) This time when you shake the cup and dump out the pennies, remove the pennies that land heads-
up. Record the penny population.
11) Continue this process and fill in the table. You are done when you have completed 10 trials OR when
your penny population gets below 4. Do NOT record 0 as the population!

Trial # 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Penny

Population








 12) Sketch the graph representing your data.





















Exponential Decay Discussion
13) In the instructions for #11, why do you think you are NOT supposed to reduce the number of
pennies all the way to zero? Explain.
14) Each time the cup is emptied, the number of pennies you remove is about ________ of the number in
the cup.
15) We are going to write a model for this experiment based on your estimate from #14.

Initial amount of pennies I = _____________
Growth or Decay? (circle one)
Growth/Decay Rate (calculated in #14) r = _____________ (written as a decimal)
Time (this represents a specific trial #) t = # of repetitions

Fill in the variables to write your own model: ___________________________________.


16) Use your model from #15 to determine your penny population on the 4th trial. ________________

How does this theoretical number compare to your actual data for the 4th trial. Are they the same?
Are they similar? What are some reasons why your results are different? Explain.