Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

i am to make a boat (small assignment one) using a motor, obviously a propeller and certainly batteries... my group and i have already designed our boat and we doubt it wont work, but now we dont know how to connect the battery to our motor and the motor to the propeller, i guess it's all about the electricity cycle or something?
plzzzzzzzzzzzz help me! it's due very very soon, wekk i next term

does your motor look something like this: http://www.inverter-china.com/blog/upload/DC-Motor.jpg
if so, this is a dc can motor....usually there are two metal pieces or wires sticking out of the bottom of the motor. You connect the + side of the battery to one of those metal pieces/wires, and the - side of the battery to the other metal piece/wire. It doesn't matter which metal piece/wire gets the + or -. To connect the battery to the motor, you can solder or tape (electrical tape) wire, or you may be able to use alligator clips (you can get these at somewhere like radio shack). The propeller can be soldered or glued to the spinning metal piece of the motor. Make sure that you are very careful when working with the electrical components and that if you solder, you get an adult who knows how to do it. Don't attempt to solder by yourself if you have never done it before, because it can be very dangerous. Also, make sure that the motor, batter, and wires don't come into contact with the water.

let me know if you have any more questions

good luck,
scienceexpert123