When a single bacterial cell is deposited on a solid or in a liquid medium, it begins to
divide. One cell produces two, two produce four, four produce eight, and so on.
Eventually, a colony appears where the original organism was. When grown on a variety
of media, microorganisms will exhibit visible physical differences in appearance in their
isolated colonies and their growth. These differences are called cultural characteristics or
morphology. Cultural characteristics or morphology may be used as an aid in identifying
and classifying some organisms.