Fun building a simple hand held motor - Using a magnet and wire
Simple materials, links, lesson plans and results with a Cub Scout troup are described


Picture of basic wire motor: wire coil/magnet/battery
David,

    Sounds like both you and the scouts had a good time "experimenting" with the very simple motor.  I'm glad I was able to help!  Hopefully you will be able to put on this demo for other scouts in the future.

    You can see why the volunteer hams that make up the Radio Coaches enjoy teaching the students a little basic electronics. We try to keep the students enthused by offering little demos, like the motor. We all have some fun, and the kids have learned something the "painless" way.....

    As you can see, the kids learn the morse code very easily. I found that it was much harder for myself.

    I know how busy everyone is, especially these days. Just so you know, some of the Radio Coaches are able to help out for just 1 or 2 hours each 10 week session, and that is great. We can use all the help we can get. Enough "sales" talk.

    Enjoy!
    Jim

David Holman wrote:

 Jim,Thanks for the information.  I did the demo for my son's Cub Scout den yesterday.  I started by giving the kids a short explanation of how magnets worked, then explained how current can make a magnetic field.  Then how the fields play together to make motors.  Everyone, including the parents, liked the presentation.  I managed to keep the attention of a bunch of 8/9 year olds for an hour and 15 minutes (definitely a feat for the record books).  We built motor coils and tested them on the battery that I had ready to go.  Some of them had some difficulty getting theirs to work, but eventually they all worked.  Then we hooked up a buzzer and everyone sent their name in Morse code.  Some the of the kids wanted to learn how to send messages with code.  I told them that we can take that up another day.  We did an experiment with an electromagnet and then hooked up a real DC motor and had it do some work.  Basically, it was a lot of fun.  I could see by the expressions on their faces and the questions that they really enjoyed it.  The parents enjoyed it too.  They actually came over to the table to get a better look.  You guys must really enjoy presenting the Radio Coaches program and watching all of the kids faces light up.  I wish I had the time to help that program.Thanks again.  It went better than I expected it would.David, KE3HF
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Jim Reilich
To: David HolmanSent: Sunday, 17 March, 2002 14:14Subject: Re: Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Stripped Down Motor
 David,

    Glad I was able to be of help. I am sure that your scouts will enjoy the simple motor.

    Here are some of the other things we do during the Radio Coaches classes (FYI):
    http://www.ggw.org/~rara/R_Coach/Spring2002.htm

    Enjoy

    Jim

David Holman wrote:

JimI got it.  I see where I was making my mistakes when I tried it.  I am going to go out today and get the stuff.  I think this is going to be a great demo/project for the Cub Scouts. ThanksDavid
----- Original Message -----
From: Jim Reilich
To: ke3hf@mindspring.comSent: Saturday, 16 March, 2002 17:43Subject: Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Stripped Down Motor
 David,

    The first URL is the closest to what I remember seeing on the web a few years ago. This is basically the motor that we use in the Radio Coaches class. The webpage had a few pictures, which make everything self explanatory. There presently are no pictures as you can see.

    We use a single "fresh" D battery, and you need to gently start the coil of wire spinning (or it will just "stall"). Be sure that only 180 degrees of the one end has the enamel removed from it, or it won't commutate. I don't remember the part number of the bar magnet I obtained from Radio Shack - get the strongest one they have; I think there were 2 or 3 in the package. A heavy rubber band placed top to bottom around the battery is used to hold the 2 paper clips in place (not a very secure clamping force - but OK for a simple demo).

http://www.geocities.com/televisioncity/set/4567/elemot.htm

    The second URL has some pictures of the coil of wire and bar magnet - they are using a more complex configuration. I just wanted you to see a picture of the coil, etc.. They strip both ends of the coil wire, and then "insulate" part of 1 end with the ink from a felt tip marked - whatever works, I guess.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/stripped_down_motor.html

    I hope that this will be of some help to you. If you have a problem, you can write or call me.

    I tried 1 more search and found the photo I was looking for:

    http://fly.hiwaay.net/%7Epalmer/motor.html

    I don't know why the Beakman's World website is gone - luckily someone thought enough of the little motor to "save" it by putting it one their website.

    Good luck. Please send a brief reply, just to be sure you received this note.

    Jim  WB2YJH