Honors Physics: April 2016

My Electric Motor Project

Making The Base Coil

To create the base coil, i used 14 gauge single strand wire. I wrapped the wire 400 times around two framing brackets that i bolted together. After wrapping i connected both sides of the wire to the battery and test to see if it was a magnet and it worked.

Creating the Armature

I used a welding rod, 2 nails, and 24 gauge magnet wire to create my armature. I taped the 2 nails together and wrapped them with the magnet wire to create a magnet. The wire from the nails runs down the welding rod to the commutator.

The Commutator and Brushes

I used a piece of cork along with two pieces of copper to conduct the electricity to the magnet wire. I used stranded wire to create my brushes, so that there were multiple connections to the copper on the cork.

Issue I Faced

The major issue that i faced while creating the electric motor was the commutator. i used heavy duty tin foil to conduct the electricity to the magnet wire and found that it did not work well. I then decided to us pieced of copper, which conducted the electricity to the magnet wire much better and allowed it to spin.

Electric Motors

History

Electric motors have many parts that were created over time and put together. The battery was created by Alessandro Volta in 1800, The magnetic field and electric current was created by Hans Christian Oersted in 1820, and the electromagnet created by William Sturgeon in 1825 all laid the foundation for the electric motor. The first real electric motor was created in 1834 by Thomas Davenport. The early motors created spinning discs or levers that rocked back and forth. These early motors had no use for humankind, but paved the way for future motors.

Necessary Parts Of An Electric Motor

-AC or DC Power

- Base Coil to create a magnetic field

-Armature

-Commutator

-Copper Wire

-wire brushes

The armature is one of the most difficult parts of the motor to build. It is a long rod that has the commutator and an electromagnet that reacts with the magnet from the base coil. With the alternating positive and negative charges that run through the wire brushes and into the commutator it allows the armature to spin while reacting with the base coil magnet.