Message-Id: <v01540b04af780ee4a2ef@[192.174.2.173]>
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 1997 08:45:35 -0800
To: pinhole@exploratorium.edu
From: pauld@exploratorium.edu (Paul Doherty)
Subject: Re: Pinhole Daily Digest
Hello Shelly Seto
If you build many of these, only some will work.
The coil when it is slightly heavier on one side than the other bounces up
and down as it rotates on the paper clip holders. This interupts the DC
flow making it pulse. If the pulsing lasts longer on one part of the cyle
than the other, then the motor will turn.
See the Exploratorium Science Snackbook for a description of a "Stripped
Down Motor" that purposefully adds an insulator to the coil wire, the
insulator interupts the DC power at just the right point to make a motor
which works almost every time.
Paul Doherty