Build This Electric Motor at Home!

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The motor shown above was made using the plans at http://fly.hiwaay.net/~palmer/motor.html . What is nice about this motor is its simplicity. It is easy to see how the electrically induced magnetic field will oppose the field of the magnet to give it a "push" while the electric contact is made. Then the motor coasts while not in electrical contact back to the original position. The unscraped portion of the wire contact breaks the connection with the battery. You only need coated copper wire, paper clips, a magnet, a rubber band, and a battery. This motor would be suitable for elementary school class science projects.

Another more advanced motor suitable for high school science fair projects or middle school science fair projects is featured at http://www.simplemotor.com/howitworks.htm .