Electric Motor and Torque

Vocabulary flashcards covering the components, operating principles, and physical concepts of torque and the direct current electric motor.

Torque

The rotational effect produced from two forces equal in magnitude and opposite in direction, and act along different lines of action.

Operating Principle of the Electric Motor

Depends on the physical concept of torque, in which an electric current flowing through the motor coil produces two equal, opposite, and non-collinear parallel magnetic forces on the two long sides ($AB$ and $CD$) that form a couple causing the coil to rotate.

Graphite brushes

Two components in an electric motor that each touch one of the two halves of the split metal cylinder to serve as the input and output for the electric current.

Split metal cylinder

A metal cylinder divided into two halves that are connected to the ends of the coil, able to rotate, and touched by the graphite brushes.

Couple (in an electric motor)

Two parallel magnetic forces acting on the two long sides ($AB$ and $CD$) of the coil that are equal in magnitude, opposite in direction, and act along different lines of action, causing the coil to rotate.

Steering wheel application of torque

An application where two hands apply two parallel forces equal in magnitude, opposite in direction, and along different lines of action, producing a torque that rotates the steering wheel and turns the car wheels.