In this activity students create a super simple motor using an electromagnet.
This activity is an example of a simple motor powered by an electromagnetic field. Students will use some basic hardware to build a motor with some (nail) head-spinning results!
Like any motor, this motor depends on the interaction between a permanent magnet and an electromagnet. The permanent magnet is the little super magnet stuck to the screw (as in the image below). The "electromagnet" is the magnetic field created by the current flowing sideways through the magnet.