How the Electric Motor works

• The electric motor works by placing a current carrying wire into a magnetic field, which results in a force known as the motor effect.
• The direction of the force in the motor effect depends on the directions of the magnetic field and the current, which can be determined using Fleming's left hand rule.
• If the current in the motor is flowing out of the page towards us and the magnetic field is going to the right, the wire will experience an upwards force.
• If the current in the motor is flowing in the opposite direction, the force it experiences will also be in the opposite direction, downwards.
• If two wires are connected at the far end, forming a coil, the current flowing in from the positive terminal on the right going all the way around the coil and flowing out to the negative terminal on the left, the coil will start to spin clockwise.
• If the current in the motor is flowing in the opposite direction, the forces acting on each side of the coil have also swapped direction, causing the coil to start turning anti-clockwise instead.
• To prevent the coil from flipping back and forth on itself, the current needs to change direction every half turn, which can be done using a device called a split ring commutator.
• If the positive terminal of the split ring commutator is attached to this side of the coil and the negative one to this side, the current will flow in from the positive go all the way around the coil and flow out of the negative one, causing the coil to experience clockwise forces and begin to rotate.
• The positive and negative terminals of the split ring commutator stay where they are, ensuring that the current always flows around in the same direction.
• The electric motor concept is used in almost all motors, from fans to vehicles to hard drives, and it works on the principle that a spinning motion can be created using electricity.
• In real life, most motors would have to be a lot more powerful than the one in this video, which can be increased in speed by increasing the current, increasing the number of turns in the coil, or increasing the magnetic flux density by using more powerful magnets.