Talk:Homopolar motor

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The list of sources of confusion and their resolution came about through my own struggle to understand the principles of these machines amid all the confusion and misinformation that is out there, and was the result of some months of reading, corresponding, discussing and experimenting to get to the bottom of how they worked.

Richard Feynman's Lectures on Physics Volume II was most helpful. As was this website for a build-it-yourself: http://www.scitoys.com/scitoys/scitoys/electro/railgun/railgun.html You can see my improved version here: http://www.scitoys.com/board/messages/8/1257.html?1128906028

For more about my qualifications and interests see: http://users.bigpond.net.au/d.keenan

-- Dave Keenan

Yes! Please add some photos and diagrams like this experiment: http://physics.usc.edu/demolab/em/em7/em7_2.html.

oskay 9 August 2006

I've added a new photo that might replace the existing one; it's at

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Homopolar_Motor_Large.jpg

- Windell Oskay Thank you, Windell. I've replaced photo and marked low-res duplicate for deletion. Though it would save some work if your just upload a new version to the same name in Commons, instead of uploading it by a new name. --M5 13:19, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Nice picture yes but I don't understand it - why don't all parts just fall on the paper (except for the magnet which seems to be sticking to the srew's head)? Harald88 21:20, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

oskay 9 August 2006 6 PM PST

M5: Thank you very much for cleaning up after me. I goofed and I have learned my lesson.

Harald88: The background is the wall in my kitchen, not a piece of paper; gravity points down in the picture. I will edit the caption to indicate that now. Hopefully someone (for example, myself) will provide a clear explanation of how this simple homopolar motor works in the near future.

- Windell Oskay

Neat! :))

Technically this might be called WP:OR; however, it may be argued that everyone can easily verify it. ;-) - and BTW, I surely plan to do so! Harald88 21:03, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

oskay 10 August 2006

Harald88: The original research was done by Michael Faraday in, or shortly after, 1821. My photo is merely a demonstration of extremely well-established phenomena.

- Windell Oskay

Ah right - that's why it looked so familiar! :-) Harald88 21:37, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

I've changed my mind about the merge. No other elecrical motor and generator articles are merged on Wikipedia. Hopefully I've made it unnecessary by adding a brief description at the start. The existing material I've now put under the heading "Sources of Confusion" that I've seen used in other Wikipedia articles. I've also restored or rewritten some deleted material that I hope you agree now makes sense under this new heading. D.keenan 02:03, 1 December 2006 (UTC)