Have you noticed that stuff sticks to your motor? If you drag your motor through a pile of paperclips, a few will get stuck to the side. What’s going on?
Inside your motor are permanent magnets (red and blue things in the photo) and an electromagnet (the copper thing wrapped around the middle). Normally, you’d hook up a battery to the two tabs (terminals) at the back of the motor, and your shaft would spin.
However, if you spin the motor shaft with your fingers, you’ll generate electricity at the terminals. But how is that possible? That’s what this experiment is all about.
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