Students will know the basics of how electric motors work.
Students construct a simple electric motor using a battery and household items.
Electric motors all work on the same principle. This basic principle is that an wires carrying electrical current feel a force in a magnetic field . Permanent magnets are composed of particular materials, such as iron, which always emit a magnetic field around them because of small electrical currents always flowing inside. When a wire or coil of wires carrying a current is in this permanent magnet's field, it is pushed in a particular direction. Because of the physical arrangement of the coil, the force it feels will start to spin it.