{ "nid": "62", "details": "\x3cspan class=\"title\"\x3eEcoBeaker™: Oil Spills\x3c/span\x3e\x3cbr/\x3e\n\x3cspan class=\"description\"\x3eIn this lab students work as advisors for a company that engineers bacterial strains that consume oil. When oil spills occur it is important to remove the oil rapidly to minimize harm to the local ecosystem. This can be achieved either by using highly efficient bacteria (large \'r\') or by transporting large numbers of bacteria to the spill sites (large N0). The student\'s job is to figure out which strategy is better. Towards this goal, the students first need to estimate the growth rate of a population of bacteria eating oil from the population size over time. Then they use the exponential growth formula to calculate the effect of increasing r and N0. This lab emphasizes pencil and paper calculations and is popular with instructors who want to introduce a little math, especially to math-phobic students.\r\n\x3c/span\x3e\x3cbr/\x3e\n\x3cbr/\x3e\n\x3cstrong\x3eLevel\x3c/strong\x3e: Intro\x3cbr/\x3e\n\x3cstrong\x3eKey Concepts\x3c/strong\x3e: Exponential growth\x3cbr/\x3e\n          \x3cbr/\x3e\x3ca href=\"/search_result_details/brief/62\" class=\"node_brief\"\x3eRead less\x3c/a\x3e        \x3cbr/\x3e\x3ca href=\"/cart/add/62\"\x3e + Add to course collection\x3c/a\x3e  \x3c/span\x3e \x3c!-- description --\x3e\n" }