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.
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.
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.
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]
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 Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Introduction to Open and Closed Electrical Circuits
This activity introduces students to the concepts of electrical current and open and closed circuits. Students will act out open and closed circuits as a whole class with some students acting as the "motors" or "light bulbs."
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]
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Two Sides of One Force
Students learn more about magnetism, and how magnetism and electricity are related in electromagnets. They learn the fundamentals about how simple electric motors and electromagnets work. Students also learn about hybrid...
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...
Florida State University
Florida State University: Science, Optics, and You: Roger Bacon
This Science, Optics, and You site offers a biography of Roger Bacon with focus on his treatises on optics.
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.
Other
Bc Hydro: Power Smart for Schools: Electromagnetism
This set of activities has young scholars using everyday items (batteries, magnets, compasses, iron and paper clips) to reveal the connection between electricity and magnetism. Ideally, students will already have experience building...
American Association of Physics Teachers
Com Padre Digital Library: Open Source Physics: Electric Generator Model
An electromagnetic induction model that simulates an electric generator made from a conducting loop rotating in a uniform magnetic field and connected to an ammeter.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Building an Electromagnet
Student teams investigate the properties of electromagnets. They create their own small electromagnet and experiment with ways to change its strength to pick up more paper clips. Students learn about ways that engineers use...
Discovery Education
Discovery Education: Build Your Own Perpetual Motion Machine [Pdf]
A lesson for students to explore the conversion of energy from electrical energy to kinetic energy by constructing a homopolar motor. Also by constructing the motor, students can investigate magnetism, electricity, and RPM.
Great Idea Finder
The Great Idea Finder: Michael Faraday
A solid biography of good length and history of Faraday's work. Complete, readable, thorough. Picture. Lots of links to other sources, including Joseph Henry's claim that *he* was first, and another about Faraday's kinetic flashlight!
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Electromagnetic Forces
Given schematic diagrams, illustrations or descriptions, students will identify the relationship of electric and magnetic fields in applications such as generators, motors, and transformers.
San Jose State University
Sjsu Virtual History: Joseph Henry
A concise biography on Joseph Henry gives details on his education; his experimental work in chemistry, electricity, and magnetism; and the many board positions he held throughout his life.
Walter Fendt
Walter Fendt: Apps Zur Physik
This site, in German, offers numerous apps that illustrate common physics principles. Apps are organized into categories: mechanics, oscillations and waves, electrodynamics, optics, thermodynamics, the theory of relativity, physics of...