World's Simplest Electric Train
Why Physics Stack Exchange recommends it
Physics Stack Exchange users link it as the standard example of the homopolar-motor-style electric train when asking how it works, how to compute its speed, or what forces act on it.
Recommended by 0 people across 0 different months, 2014 to 2020.
What it is
A short 2014 demo from the AmazingScience channel showing a battery with a neodymium magnet on each end rolling through a tight copper wire coil, which acts as a self-propelled "train". The description explains the build and gives a brief account of how the coil becomes an electromagnet only between the magnets.
What people said
Cites noir1993 · 2014-12 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “How does this "simple" electric train work?”
In this YouTube video [this video] , a dry cell battery, a wound copper wire and a few magnets (see image below) are being used to create what can be described as "train". It looks fascinating but how does this experiment work? Update 8th August 2016: This problem has been completely worked out in a paper that was published in the January 2016 issue of American Journal of Physics. Link : Am. J. Phys. 84, 21 (2016); [LINK]
Cites G Gr · 2018-02 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “How to slide metal using electromagnetism”
Something like metglas with a high permeability, im really just trying to figure out if its possible with any material. Must be flat tho. Abit like this [this video] except not a coil and using flat sheets while not being a closed system.
Cites Himanshu Singh · 2018-10 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “How would you calculate final velocity for the simple electric train experiment?”
Alright, so basically I have an experiment to make, which is similar to the simple train video on youtube. I want to test different voltages & gauges of copper wire to see the changes in velocity. I want to be able to hypothesize the final velocities of each of the different experiments, so looking at the video, how would you be able to calculate the final velocity for the battery? I am a grade 12 student from a high school in Ontario. [this video] Here is the video, thank you.
Cites Himanshu Singh · 2018-12 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Electromagnetic Force vs Magnetic Force”
[this video] This is a good example of what I am doing, what force is acting upon the magnets here? The magnetic force (which in-turn causes the battery to move) right?
Cites Janko Bradvica · 2020-08 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “How this toy shown on YouTube works and can the coil be replaced by a hollow magnetic thorus?”
I saw this video on YT [this video] and what I can not figure out is why the coil used in the arrangement could not be replaced by a hollow magnetic torus?