How does a current translate into turning a motor?

[LogicX]

So you have a current flowing through a wire. How do you go from that to, say, spinning a fan blade when you flip a switch?

I took physics but they were more interested in teaching us obscure calculations than actually explaining practical material. If you want to know the total resistance of a circuit I can do that, I just can't tell you what on Earth you will be doing with that circuit.

 

[xts]

See this -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_motor

 

[LogicX]

Thanks.

 

[berkeman]

So you have a current flowing through a wire. How do you go from that to, say, spinning a fan blade when you flip a switch?

I took physics but they were more interested in teaching us obscure calculations than actually explaining practical material. If you want to know the total resistance of a circuit I can do that, I just can't tell you what on Earth you will be doing with that circuit.

See this -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_motor

Yeah, wikipedia and howstuffworks.com are both pretty good places to get basic information about how things work:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/motor.htm

.

 

[LogicX]

Yeah, wikipedia and howstuffworks.com are both pretty good places to get basic information about how things work:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/motor.htm

.

Yes we obviously learned about inducing magnetic fields with a current in physics, I just didn't know that that was how most devices worked.