Final answer:
A bar magnet is dipolar and has two magnetic poles: a north pole and a south pole. Regardless of how many times it is divided, each piece will always have both poles. The correct answer to the question is C) two.
Step-by-step explanation:
A bar magnet is described as dipolar, which indicates that it has two magnetic poles. This means that a bar magnet has a north pole and a south pole. When a bar magnet is cut in half, contrary to what might be expected, we do not get one magnet with two south poles and one with two north poles. Instead, each half becomes a new magnet, each with its own north and south pole. Experiments all the way down to the atomic scale have never found an instance of a magnetic monopole; that is, a single magnetic pole existing by itself. Therefore, the correct response to the question is C) two.
It is important to note that this dipolar characteristic is analogous to electric dipoles as well, where opposite charges are separated by a distance. This dipolar nature of magnets is fundamental to their interaction with magnetic fields, as a magnetic dipole will tend to align with an external magnetic field vector.