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A wire is uniformly stretched so that its area of cross-section becomes 1/n times the original (n>0). What will be its new resistance?

Asked in GSEB Board March 2018 · Resistance of a wire and stretching

Answer: (1) n² times

Step-by-step solution

Given: stretching reduces the area from A to A/n.

Idea: the amount of metal does not change, so the volume AL stays the same.

New length: A/n L'=AL, so L'=nL.

R'=ρ(L')/(A')=ρ(nL)/(A/n)=n² ρL/A.

So R'=n²R: the wire is n times longer and n times thinner, and each change multiplies the resistance by n.

Why the other options are wrong

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