Name: ____________________________________________ Date: ____________ Score: ___________
Grade & Section: ____________________________ Teacher: _______________ Subject: _________
Activity: Building a Simple Electric Motor
Electric motors power all kinds of things you probably use every day, like your fridge, washing machine,
and even electric toothbrush. Building your own simple electric motor is actually very easy. To help you out, a
step-by-step guide were put together in making a basic electric motor that includes everything you'll need to
get started.
Be sure to disconnect the wires from
the battery after the experiment so it
does not overheat.
Materials:
insulated copper wire
small magnet
D battery or AA battery
2 safety pins
electrical tape
scissor
marker
modeling clay
fine sandpaper
Procedure:
Winding the Coil
1. Wrap copper wire around the marker.
Start in the middle of the wire and wrap the coil five times toward one end and another
five times toward the other. Once you have finished wrapping the coil, remove the
marker from the middle. This will leave you with two loose leads at either end of the
coil.
2. Loop the loose ends around the coil.
Wrap the loose ends around either side of the coil three or four times. This will help
keep the coil wound tightly. Point the remaining loose ends straight out away from
the coil.
Connecting the battery
3. Secure the battery.
Use modeling clay to hold the battery in place on a flat surface. This will allow you
to connect it to the coil without having to hold it with your hands. Make sure the
battery is laying on its side so that you can easily reach both terminals.
4. Strip the ends of the coil.
Use wire strippers to remove the insulation on either end of the wire, but only one half
of the insulation. These leads will connect to the battery and allow current to flow
through the coil. If you sand the wire all the way around, the wire will heat up or move
back and forth, and the motor will not work.
5. Tape the safety pins to the battery terminals.
Tape one safety pin to the positive side of the battery (marked with a “+”). Tape
the other safety to the negative side of the battery (marked with a “-”).
6. Put each end of the wire to the hole of the bottom of the safety pins.
Introducing the magnet
7. Bring the magnet close to the coil.
Once a current is flowing through the coil, it can interact with a magnet. Tape
the magnet to the battery right underneath the coil. The closer the magnet is
to the coil the stronger it will interact.
8. Spin the coil.
See what happens when you spin the coil. Depending on the direction the
current is flowing and the side of the magnet that is interacting with the coil,
the coil may continue to spin or may not. If the coil does not keep spinning,
try spinning the other direction.
9. Experiment with different methods.
Different variations will give you different results. The coil may spin faster, slower, or not at all if you
change something. Try moving the magnet closer to or further from the coil, pick a stronger or weaker
magnet, or use the other side of the magnet. These variations are a fun way to understand the forces
in an electric motor.
Paste a picture of you doing the activity.
Guide Questions:
1. What are the basic parts of a simple electric motor?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
2. What happened to the coil as you give it a gentle spin?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
3. What happen to the coil if you spin it to the other direction?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
4. Based on the activity, how can you explain the operation of simple electric motor?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
5. If you are an engineer, what part of the electric motor should be changed to build a more powerful
motor? Explain your answer.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
Prepared by:
Charmine G. Lijat
Science Teacher
