Motor Blog

Function of Each part of the Motor:
Battery: provided a current through the system
Paper clips: acted as both a conductor for the current and held the motor loop up
Motor loop: main rotary piece of the motor, carried current and spun
Magnet: Creates magnetic field that puts torque on the motor loop

We scraped the armature by scraping one side completely off so that there was no insulator, and the other side so that there was half of the wire without insulator. We did this because when the motor loop would turn half way, it would want to reverse directions, therefore we had to have the current be cut off so that the motor loop could keep rotating.

The motor turns because a current is running through the motor loop. When this occurs, the magnetic field from both the moving charges and the magnet placed on the system create a force that puts a torque on the loop. This works until it half way rotates and wants to reverse directions per the magnet. This is why we stripped the armature to have the current turn off when the motor loop would want to reverse directions. The direction of force needed to be perpendicular to the plane of the motor loop so that it would create a torque.

This motor could be used for educational purposes, as it does not do enough work to actually be useful in anything else.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQCZ-60fxXQ&feature=youtu.be