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Activity
Museum of Science

Museum of Science and Industry: Online Science: Build an Electric Motor

For Students 3rd - 8th
Step-by-step illustrated instructions show how to build a simple electric motor using everyday materials to make a wire coil spin. An explanation of the science involved is given at the end, as well as tips on troubleshooting any...
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Unit Plan
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: A Practical Application of Electro Magnetism

For Students 10th - 12th
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] This lesson explains how an electric motor works.
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Unit Plan
Georgia Department of Education

Ga Virtual Learning: Magnetism

For Students 9th - 10th
In this interactive unit students will see how magnets work and how they are used in some of the most useful and common devices today.
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Unit Plan
Georgia Department of Education

Ga Virtual Learning: Magnetism and Current Carrying Wires

For Students 9th - 10th
In this interactive tutorial students will explore how a magnetic field affects a current-carrying wire and also how two current-carrying wires affect each other. They will learn about Biot-Savart, Ampere's Law and the magnetic field...
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Handout
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Timeline of Electricity and Magnetism: 1820 1829

For Students 9th - 10th
Hans Christian Orsted's accidental discovery that an electrical current moves a compass needle rocks the scientific world; a spate of experiments follows, immediately leading to the first electromagnet and electric motor.
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Unit Plan
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Magnetic Shunt

For Students 9th - 10th
Magnetic shunts are often used to adjust the amount of flux in the magnetic circuits found in most electrical motors. (Java tutorial)
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Unit Plan
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Dc Motor

For Students 9th - 10th
Electric motors turn electricity into motion by exploiting electromagnetic induction.
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Activity
Exploratorium

Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Motor Effect

For Students 9th - 10th
"A magnet exerts a force on current-carrying wire." This simple device shows how magnets affect wires with current in them, the basis of the electric motor. If you see, feel and understand this, the electric motor becomes very clear.
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Unit Plan
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Barlow's Wheel

For Students 9th - 10th
English mathematician Peter Barlow devised an instrument in 1822 that built on advances from earlier in the century (including the invention the battery) to create a very early kind of electric motor.
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Interactive
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Physics Simulation: Electric Motor

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] Learn how magnetic forces acting on current-carrying wires can be used to drive an electric motor using this interactive simulation. A PDF worksheet and a video tutorial are also available. [2:47]
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Activity
Exploratorium

Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Motor Effect

For Students 9th - 10th
Create a simple device to see how a force is exerted on a current by a magnetic field. This activity shows how an electric motor can be made with this force.
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Investigating Motors and Magnetism

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students will build a simple DC motor out of metal coat hangers, a 24-guage wire armature and field magnet, 14-guage wire brushes, and build the motor so that it rotates when connected to a 10-volt DC power supply. Students will...
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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Get Your Motor Running

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students investigate motors and electromagnets as they construct their own simple electric motors using batteries, magnets, paper clips and wire.
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Activity
Science Museum, London

Science Museum: Pocket Motor

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Teacher directed activity shows students how flowing electrical current produces a magnetic field by building a simple motor.
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Handout
Learn Engineering

Learn Engineering: Single Phase Motors

For Students 11th - 12th
Learn about how a single phase motor produces a rotating magnetic field in this video. The accompanying article discusses topics found in the video. [2:00]
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Handout
Learn Engineering

Learn Engineering: How Does an Induction Motor Work?

For Students 11th - 12th
An article and video about the most commonly used electrical machine called an induction motor. Learn about the parts of the motors that allow the motor to function. [4:43]
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Handout
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Joseph Henry

For Students 9th - 10th
Joseph Henry was an American scientist who pioneered the construction of strong, practical electromagnets and built one of the first electromagnetic motors. During his experiments with electromagnetism, Henry discovered the property of...
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Handout
Learn Engineering

Learn Engineering: Understanding Rotating Magnetic Field & Synchronous Speed

For Students 11th - 12th
Get information about rotating magnetic fields and how electric machines use them for their operation. Discusses synchronous speed and number of poles on an electrical machine. The accompanying article discusses the topics found in the...
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Handout
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Faraday Motor 1821

For Students 9th - 10th
Few inventions have shaped technology as much as the electric motor, but the very first version - the Faraday motor - didn't look anything like the modern motor.
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Unit Plan
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Davenport Motor 1834

For Students 9th - 10th
Odd though it seems today, when Thomas Davenport was selling one of the first electric motors way back in the 1830s, nobody was buying.
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Unit Plan
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Faraday Motor

For Students 9th - 10th
Just a year after electromagnetism was discovered, the great scientific thinker Michael Faraday figured out how to turn it into motion. (Java tutorial)
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Handout
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mit: Inventor of the Week: Nikola Tesla: The Electro Magnetic Motor

For Students 3rd - 8th
Use this site to learn about the inventor of the electro-magnetic motor, Nikola Tesla. Find out why Tesla's experimentation with alternating current was so important to later inventions and use of electricity.
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: A Simple Motor/generator Demonstration for Use in Interactive Lecture

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This apparatus is easy and inexpensive to construct and provides a clear and compelling demonstration of Faraday's Law of Induction and the Lorentz force. Two magnets are suspended from springs so that they are free to oscillate...
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Article
Creative Science Centre

Creative Science Centre: Very Simple Screw 'Motor'

For Students 9th - 10th
Explains the design of a simple 'motor' made from a magnetized screw and a battery.

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