Making Things Move with Electricity

Every electric motor — from tiny fans to massive train engines — works on the same principle discovered by Michael Faraday in 1821. When an electric current flows through a wire in a magnetic field, the wire experiences a force. Arrange this cleverly with a coil that can spin, and you get rotation. This simple idea powers electric cars, washing machines, hard drives, and billions of other devices — the motor effect is arguably the most useful discovery in the history of physics!