Key estimates

• Diameter of a droplet = 50 Microns

• Volume of a droplet = 50 pL (based on above estimate)

• Dimensions of E. coli = 1-2 Microns x 3-5 Microns

• Average E. coli weight = 5 * 10^-18 kg

• Polystyrene bead density = 1.05 g/cm^3 (used for calculating bead molarity)

• E. coli per droplet = 6 (based on a cell density of 10^8 cells/mL)