Making Homopolar motor with 7th graders

Janani and Vishal made a homopolar motor. Janani got excited when she saw this experiment online and she wanted to build one on her own.

Making:

Materials needed: 1*AA battery, 3*neodymium magnet, Coper wire of length30cm.

Step 1: Place the three magnets at the negative terminal of the battery.

Step 2: Bend the coper wire as shown in the figure. Make sure it is not insulated, if so please scratch the wire till you get rid of the enamel.

Step3: Put all of them together. Place the coper bend wire on top of the positive terminal of the battery and other end touching the negative terminal of the battery.

Take a look at the video:

• The current in this homopolar motor flows in the presence of a magnetic field. When a current flows in a magnetic field, it will experience something known as the Lorentz force. The Lorentz force is what causes the wire to spin around the battery.^[1]
• The wire connects to the battery at three points. One point of the wire is on the positive terminal, and the two ends of the wire are near the magnet, on the negative terminal. The current flows out of the positive terminal and down both sides of the wire. The magnetic field pushes the current outwards, causing the wires to rotate.^[2]

sources:

• 1.↑ http://www.physicscentral.com/experiment/physicsathome/homopolar-motor.cfm
• 2. ↑ http://www.evilmadscientist.com/2006/mhd-i-demonstrate-magnetohydrodynamic-propulsion-in-a-minute/