The toy is a high voltage motor that acts like a bell, with a clapper that bangs furiously from one can to the other and back again, sometimes several times per second.
http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/electro/electro4.html
In the middle of the base we have placed the magnet. Around the magnet we have drilled four small holes for the support wires.
http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/electro/electro2.html#bigger
One easy way to make the motor run faster is to add another magnet. Hold a magnet over the top of the motor while it is running. As you move the magnet closer to the spinning coil, one of two things will happen.
http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/electro/electro2.html#double
The motor is simply a battery, a magnet, and a small coil of wire you make yourself. There is a secret to making it (which I will of course share with you) which is at the same time clever and delightfully simple.
http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/electro/electro.html
In this section we will construct a motor without any permanent magnets. In place of the magnet, we will use another coil of wire. This coil is called the field coil, and the coil that moves is called the armature coil.
http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/electro/electro3.html#two_coil
A magnetorheological fluid is a liquid that hardens near a magnet, and becomes liquid again when you remove the magnet. They are simple to make in your kitchen after a trip to a sandbox.
http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/magnets/magnets.html#rheological
This very simple toy uses a magnetic chain reaction to launch a steel marble at a target at high speed. The toy is very simple to build, going together in minutes, and is very simple to understand and explain, and yet fascinating to watch and to use.
http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/magnets/gauss.html
The beads all repel one another, and arrange themselves in a way that clearly shows the effect of gravity -- the beads at the bottom are closer together than the ones at the top, forming a beautiful mathematical progression.
http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/magnets/ring_launcher/ring_launcher.html
The motor is simply a battery, a magnet, and a small coil of wire you make yourself. There is a secret to making it (which I will of course share with you) which is at the same time clever and delightfully simple.
http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/electro/electro.html#motor
Investigate the performance of batteries in a scientifically valid way.
http://www.sciencebuddies.com/mentoring/project_ideas/Elec_p008.shtml