Electric Motors: Cork Motor Assembly Tutorial

This activity, Cork Motor Assembly Tutorial, together with the Toothpick and Straw motors, are among the best 10 products we have created and offering in TpT. It took about 100 hours of diligent work to put together this fine educational product. Physics students will learn how to build a real electric motor that works. It is a marvelous hand on experience that guide students step by step in building a great looking cork motor. The materials cost about $50, and they are good for about a dozen students to build their own motors. The best places to buy the wire, corks, and the magnets in Ebay, Walmart, and Amazon are indicated with pictures and links. The rest of the materials cost practically nothing and they are found at home and in the classroom. For the power supply, students can use a 9-volt battery or the DC charger of an old cellular phone. USB chargers also work very well with the cork motor, in that way there is no need to spend money in 9-volt batteries.

The construction of the entire motor takes about two hours. Just follow the tutorial picture by picture, and read the short and clear explanations, and the students will build not only the coils, commuters, brushes, and the support structures, but they will also understand all the terminology associated with electric motors. We made sure to explain in detail everything in this project, and we have no doubt the motors built by the students will work well.

This is an experience the students will never forget and makes them appreciate one marvelous side of science. The assembly tutorial is in pdf format.

Ceres-Science teacher support: science@ceressoft.net

The link to other laboratory activities is:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Browse/Search:ceres-science/Type-of-Resource/Laboratory