Table of Contents
- Working of an Electric Motor
- Summary
- What’s Next?
In the previous segment, we learnt about Fleming’s left-hand rule. In this segment, let us understand the electric motor.
How does an electric motor work?
- The electric motor is a device that converts electrical energy to mechanical energy.
- Consider a rectangular coil made up of insulated copper wire. Let A, B, C, and D be the points on the rectangular coil. This coil is placed between two poles of a magnet such that it is perpendicular to the magnetic field as shown below. Let the ends of the coil be connected to two halves of a split ring. Let these two halves be P and Q. The inner sides of the split rings are insulated and attached to an axle. The external sides conduct electricity and touch two stationary brushes X and Y. These brushes will be connected to a battery and a plug key.
Circuit setup of an electric motor
- When the plug key is closed, the current will flow through the brush X, then through the coil, the brush Y, and back to the source.
- Thus, the current is flowing from A to B and from C to D in the coil. The magnetic field is in the direction from the north pole to the south pole. That is, from left to the right.
