How Does a Motor Work?
Animation by IEEE Virtual MuseumAn electric motor converts electricity into mechanical motion. Electric motors are used in household appliances, electric fans, remote-controlled toys, and in thousands of other applications. The electric motor grew out of one of the earliest discoveries in electric scienceAragos rotations. In 1824, Francois Arago discovered that a magnetic needle suspended over a copper disk would rotate when the disc was spun. The next year, computer pioneer Charles Babbage and astronomer John Herschel showed that the action could be reversed: spinning a more powerful magnet above the copper disk would spin the copper disc. Then, in 1831, Michael Faraday conducted experiments that helped explain why this took place. While this laid the groundwork for the electric motor, it was another half century before electric motors were doing useful work. Over the next few decades many inventors made improved devices for turning electricity into motion. One of these was Hippolyte
