Are you curious about Why Does Copper Wire Spin On A Battery? Michael Faraday invented the modern electric motor by employing a battery, a magnet, and a wire to construct a straightforward homopolar motor.
You may create your own homopolar motor and conduct experiments to observe physics in action using the same components!
Why Does Copper Wire Spin On A Battery?
The electromagnetic field produced by current flow interacts with the magnet’s magnetic field. The copper wire is pushed by the Lorentz Force, produced by this electromagnetic field, and the copper wire rotates.
How To Make A Spinning Wire Sculpture?
In this experiment, a homopolar motor will be created! Three materials are required to create a simple motor (homopolar motor) that also serves as artwork: a battery, a magnet, and a wire. Use one of our neodymium magnets to drive the motor that spins the wire.
What to Do:
- Begin by cutting a piece of wire that is 6″ long for your wire sculpture. A copper wire without insulation or a plastic coating should be used. It works well with thick wire (14–16 gauge). Using the ruler to measure 6″, cut the wire using the wire cutter.
- Using the ruler, locate the wire’s midpoint. Utilizing the pliers, bend the wire into a V shape in the middle. Once you’ve created a V, bend each side perpendicular to it.
- Re-bend each wire end so that it points downward. Employ the pliers.
- Place the wire artwork on a level surface. It should lie flat if it doesn’t, use the pliers to straighten it gently.
- Hold the battery and measure its length while the sculpture is placed on a flat surface. Place the battery’s positive end (the side with the bump) close to the V in the wire. Note where to bend the wire ends to meet the battery’s negative end (flat side).
- Using the pliers, bend the bottom ends of the wire sculpture at an angle.
- Position the neodymium magnet on the battery’s flat bottom. This is the dark side. Place the magnet and batteries on a level surface standing erect.
- Place the V of the wire on top of the battery’s positive side (bump). Ensure the sculpture is balanced carefully and that the magnet, not the battery, is in touch with the wire ends bent at an angle.
- Let go once your wire appears to be balanced.
- Try switching the magnet so the opposite side is in contact with the battery if the motor still won’t start spinning. You must adjust your wire sculpture if it still doesn’t work. Remove the battery to prevent the magnet from getting too hot while you work.
- When adjusting your wire sculpture to make it spin, keep the following in mind:
- The wire sculpture must be balanced to spin. When your wire piece is placed on a level surface, make sure it is flat and symmetrical. It should be the same on both sides. You began your sculpture amid the wire because of this. If required, try once more with a fresh piece of wire.
- The magnet should barely touch the wire ends. A tight fit will cause the motor to become stuck and become unusable. Only the wire’s ends should be in contact.
Results
You created a homopolar electric motor. This motor runs on direct current, sometimes known as DC. That indicates that power only flows in one way. From the battery’s positive end to its negative end, electricity flows. You employed a copper wire to finish the circuit.
A metal that conducts electricity is copper. From the battery’s positive end to its negative end, electricity moved.
It moved from the positive end of the battery back into the wire, via the battery, and up the wire. Known as a complete circuit, this. Direct current electricity only drifts in one direction.
What caused the motor to turn? The magnet enters the picture here. A positive and a negative end can be found in the magnetic field.
The battery is being pushed upward by the magnetic field. The electric current flow is pushing down the magnet.
These competing forces cause the wire to move outward, spinning it around the magnet. A homopolar motor is a device that uses a battery, magnet, and wire.
The wire spins in one direction due to the magnetism’s power and electricity’s movement. Although it won’t be able to power anything, this motor is interesting!
Conclusion
The above information covers all about Why Does Copper Wire Spin On A Battery? In this instance, electrons are the electrical charges traveling during an electrical current. The Lorentz force is a force that an electrically charged particle perceives as it passes through a magnetic field.
The direction of the magnetic field and the particle’s velocity are both perpendicular to the force, which operates at a right angle to both.
The little forces accumulate and become significant when many charged particles travel, such as an electrical current flowing through a wire. This is how electric motors are created.
The motor you constructed for this project needed strengthening and served as a rudimentary demonstration.
With your finger, you could stop the wire from spinning. Greater magnet and wire coil sizes are seen in stronger electric motors.
An electric motor can be utilized as a generator by running it in reverse. A generator needs some outside force to make the wire (or magnet, occasionally) spin.
It consequently produces an electric current. Many power stations produce electricity in this way.
If the cable only made contact with the battery’s tip and not the magnet, you might have observed that your motor did not function.
You require a closed circuit for electrical current to flow. That indicates that the wire must touch simultaneously at both ends. You have an open circuit; no current will flow if it touches one end.
