Building a Simple Electric Motor

Aim: To build a simple electric motor.

Equipment: 400mm of un-insulated copper wire*, AA battery, 2 small magnets - neodymium magnets apparently work well.

(*It can be uninsulated by sanding the protective layer off, this leaves only the pure copper left to work with.)

Method:

1. Bend your wire in half and lay the bend over the point in the middle of the template below.
2. Now work around each side of the wire, bending it along the line as you go. IGNORE VIDEO THINGY.
3. Place both magnets on the negative terminal of your battery.
4. Place the curved sections of wire around one magnet each. Ensure that they are free to rotate. 
5. Balance the pointed part on the positive terminal.
6. If you've done everything correctly when you let go the wire to should begin to spin!

Results:

Unfortunately, I was unable to recreate this experiment as the forces of gravity seems to dislike me. I would have attempted it again the next day, however, SOMEONE managed TO BREAK THE MAGNETS. As you can tell, I am unimpressed with this development. But I have moved past this and instead blogged about my complete and utter failure. I would have chosen something else to research and blog about, but my teacher said to just talk about this instead.

Discussion:

This electric motor spins because the wires are conducting electricity, and therefore electrons. This electric motor converts electric energy into motion. The electrons need to constantly move, because of this and the way the wire is twisted, the easiest way for the electrons to flow and keep moving is to push against the magnetic field. This magnetic field has come from the two magnets at the bottom of the battery.