When you cut a wire of resistance \( r \) into two equal parts, each part will have its own resistance. To understand what happens to the resistance of each part, let's go through the process step-by-step.
### 1. Initial Resistance of the Wire
Let's denote the original wire's resistance as \( R \).
### 2. Cutting the Wire
When you cut the wire into two equal lengths, each part will have half the length of the original wire. The resistance of a wire is directly proportional to its length. Therefore, if you cut the wire into two equal parts, each part will have half the length of the original wire.
### 3. Calculating the Resistance of Each Part
The resistance \( R \) of a wire is given by the formula:
\[ R = \rho \frac{L}{A} \]
where:
- \( \rho \) is the resistivity of the material,
- \( L \) is the length of the wire,
- \( A \) is the cross-sectional area of the wire.
If the original wire has length \( L \), then the resistance of the wire can be expressed as:
\[ R = \rho \frac{L}{A} \]
When you cut the wire into two equal lengths, each new length is \( \frac{L}{2} \). The resistance \( R_{\text{new}} \) of each part is:
\[ R_{\text{new}} = \rho \frac{\frac{L}{2}}{A} \]
Simplify this expression:
\[ R_{\text{new}} = \frac{1}{2} \rho \frac{L}{A} \]
Since \( \rho \frac{L}{A} \) is the resistance of the original wire \( R \):
\[ R_{\text{new}} = \frac{1}{2} R \]
### Conclusion
Each of the two equal-length parts of the wire will have a resistance that is **half** the resistance of the original wire. If the original wire had resistance \( r \), then each of the two cut pieces will have a resistance of \( \frac{r}{2} \).