KS3 Science Club - Electric Motor

Last Thursday, our very keen KS3 physicists built their very own motors from scratch! First, they had to insulate one end of the rotor (the rotating part of the motor) with tape followed by very tightly wrapping a long piece of wire around it to form a coil.

They then connected the motor to the base and placed it in the steel yoke, which had two magnets facing opposite poles, before connecting it to the power supply. Once built, the motor was used to test Fleming’s left-hand rule, a simple way to find the direction of the motion of a conductor in an electric motor.

This activity enabled pupils to gain a better understanding of the theory behind electric motors. They will be looking at this in more detail as part of their GCSEs.