Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I built an electric magnetic motor last night, but the only problem is that it didn't work. I used a plastic cup, insulated wire, wire strippers, a D cell battery and magnets. I changed the size of the coil which was meant to spin, and the smaller it got the more movement, but it never came to a full circle or anything I can really measure. PLEASE HELP!

Hi Maya!

If you plug your project question into answers.com, you'll get a variety of web sites. I only looked at the one near the top, which was a science fair project using electric motors. I think looking at that site you can determine key ratios of "working" motors.

It's hard to know for sure why your motor doesn't spin without actually seeing it and/or tinkering with it. Have you tried reducing friction by oiling locations where the moving parts make contact with stationary parts? Or increasing the current by using two or three batteries?

There are a couple of things that could be wrong, one of them being friction.
Make sure your armature is not bound too tight. Make it as loose as possible without falling apart. Also, could be wiring issues of course.

Jim

This site has a pretty simple motor, I didn't try it though. If you can't get yours to work give it a try.

http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/ele ... html#motor

Make sure you're not using bare copper wire, even though this wire looks
bare it actually has a varnish that acts as an insulating surface.

Jim