Homopolar Motor for your Valentine

If you are looking to give your special someone a gift on Valentines Day that is unique and can't be bought in stores, look no further! This project is based on the Homopolar Motor, it can be built in a few minutes and will cost you less than a dollar in parts but the results are quite impressive. Chances are you already have everything needed in a few drawers in your house.

Items you will need:

• AA Battery
• 10 Gauge wire (thinner wire will also work fine)
• Magnet
• Pliers to cut and form the wire

Steps in building the Homopolar Motor:

• Cut the wire to length, you can leave it slightly longer than needed and trim it later
• Snap the negative side of the AA battery onto the magnet
• Bend the wire in the desired shape, a heart shape is recommended for the best effect :)
• Place the wire on the positive pole of the AA battery and watch it spin

So what is going on here? What makes the wire spin around and around? It is caused by an interesting thing called the Lorentz force, the current flowing in the wire is creating a magnetic field that interacts with the permanent magnet causing rotation.

Source