Self Built Motor

*A motor has current bearing wires and magnets.

*A current carrying wires feel a force in a magnetic field and that force causes a torque; that's how a motor works.

I built this contraption to allow the wire to spin freely on its own. Each part of the device serves an important purpose.

Battery - supplies voltage that supplies current

Magnet - supplies magnetic field that makes charges move

Paper clip - allows rotation of the wire while also conducting current. 

Motor loop (wire) - spins as a result of the flowing current

*I scrapped the paper clip (at the point where the wire sits on the paper clip loop *at the same point on each side*) to allow the current to flow through the wire, because otherwise the coating on the wire would get in the way. If you don't scrap the wire in the same place and on the same side on each end of the wire, the wire won't make a complete circle when spinning.

The wire spins because of moving charges. The magnetic field is going up towards the wire, the current is flowing across the wire, and thus the force is going to the side of the wire. That felt force creates a torque, so the loop spins.  

All moving charges feel a force in a magnetic field if they are moving perpendicular to the magnetic field.

*This is why the equator is generally shielded from cosmic rays entering, and the northern countries aren't. 

This motor could be used as a cake mixer. You could attach whisks to the motor loop, and then when you turn on the current, the wires will spin thus creating a cake mixer with the whisks spinning.