Introduction: Motor Basics | Concept Super Easy to Understand With an Experiment

By Hobbyist Engineer
About: Creativity is intelligence having fun.

In this instructable I am going to teach you about the underlying fundamental principle of motors. All motors around us work on this principle. Even generators work on reciprocated statement of this rule.

I am talking about the Fleming's Left-Hand Rule.

According to this rule, the direction of force (or its motion) on a conductor can be determined if it is placed in a magnetic field and the direction of current flow through the conductor is known.

The rule states that, if thumb, Forefinger and middle finger of left hand are held mutually perpendicular to each other in such a way that the middle finger points in the direction of flow of current and the forefinger pointing in the direction of magnetic field (produced by horse shoe magnet in this project), then the thumb points in the direction of force experienced by the conductor.

In simple way, direction of current and magnetic field is known and the conductor moves in the direction of thumb.

Supplies

Materials Required :

  • Copper wire 16 gauge (you can use any conducting material thin rods such as aluminum)
  • Matchboxes
  • Battery (9V or 1.5V or any source less than 9V, as much current is not required)
  • Switch
  • Horseshoe Magnet (U-shaped magnet | You can use any magnet to produce magnetic field as shown in the video)
  • Pair of pliers
  • Sandpaper (Any grid)

Step 1: ​Materials Required :

  • Copper wire 16 gauge (you can use any conducting material thin rods such as aluminum)
  • Matchboxes
  • Battery (9V or 1.5V or any source less than 9V, as much current and voltage is not required)
  • Switch
  • Horseshoe Magnet (U-shaped magnet | You can use any magnet to produce magnetic field as shown in the video)
  • Pair of pliers
  • Sandpaper (Any grid)

Step 2: Build :

  • Take two matchboxes
  • Cut two 15-20 cm Copper wire rods and rub it with the sandpaper so as to take out its shiny conducting surface removing the enamel coating.
  • Place these rods parallel to each other on the matchbox.
  • Keep distance between these rods just large enough to fit in the horseshoe magnet without touching the magnet to them.
  • Fix them with electrical or cello tape as we are not dealing with high currents or voltages.

Step 3: Connections :

Connect the circuit as shown in the figure. These are just normal connections.

Step 4:

Also, cut out a small 2cm piece of same copper wire and place it in between the magnet as shown.

Step 5:

You can observe the circuit from this angle clearly.

Step 6: Working :

Now, as the direction of current is inwards of the screen(Red colour), magnetic field is downwards hence, the force experience (yellow) by the small rod will be towards the alligator clips.

Step 7: Important Note :

For detailed build and easy understanding, you must watch the video.

Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2NqP3E2AmQ&t=2s

The video is self explanatory and makes is very easy to make the project. This project is an experimental type which will help students of 8th grade to high school ones to grasp the concept easily.

Thank You for reading!!

Please tell, if you were able to understand the concept from it.Peace!