Description: Interactive Free flash animation to learn the principle of the electric motor as an application of the Lorentz force.
Definition
Lorentz force: When a wire carrying an electric current is placed in a magnetic field, each of the moving charges, which comprise the current, experiences the Lorentz force, and together they can create a macroscopic force on the wire (sometimes called the Laplace force). By combining the Lorentz force law above with the definition of electric current, the following equation results, in the case of a straight, stationary wire. F = Il x B