Museum of Science
Museum of Science and Industry: Online Science: Build an Electric Motor
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...
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: A Practical Application of Electro Magnetism
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] This lesson explains how an electric motor works.
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Magnetism
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.
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Magnetism and Current Carrying Wires
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...
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Timeline of Electricity and Magnetism: 1820 1829
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.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Magnetic Shunt
Magnetic shunts are often used to adjust the amount of flux in the magnetic circuits found in most electrical motors. (Java tutorial)
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Dc Motor
Electric motors turn electricity into motion by exploiting electromagnetic induction.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Motor Effect
"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.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Barlow's Wheel
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.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Physics Simulation: Electric Motor
[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]
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Motor Effect
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.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Investigating Motors and Magnetism
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...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Get Your Motor Running
Students investigate motors and electromagnets as they construct their own simple electric motors using batteries, magnets, paper clips and wire.
Science Museum, London
Science Museum: Pocket Motor
Teacher directed activity shows students how flowing electrical current produces a magnetic field by building a simple motor.
Learn Engineering
Learn Engineering: Single Phase Motors
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]
Learn Engineering
Learn Engineering: How Does an Induction Motor Work?
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]
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Joseph Henry
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...
Learn Engineering
Learn Engineering: Understanding Rotating Magnetic Field & Synchronous Speed
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...
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Faraday Motor 1821
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.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Davenport Motor 1834
Odd though it seems today, when Thomas Davenport was selling one of the first electric motors way back in the 1830s, nobody was buying.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Faraday Motor
Just a year after electromagnetism was discovered, the great scientific thinker Michael Faraday figured out how to turn it into motion. (Java tutorial)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Inventor of the Week: Nikola Tesla: The Electro Magnetic Motor
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.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: A Simple Motor/generator Demonstration for Use in Interactive Lecture
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...
Creative Science Centre
Creative Science Centre: Very Simple Screw 'Motor'
Explains the design of a simple 'motor' made from a magnetized screw and a battery.