What is the purpose of the carbon brushes in an electric motor? (electromagnetic induction – physics gcse)?
Posted on 10. Feb, 2012 by admin in Induction Kits
Does it do the same thing as the commutator – causing the current to change direction so that the motor keeps spinning in the same direction, or something else? Im confused -. -
Scott
10. Feb, 2012
The brushes simply allow an electrical connection to something that’s spinning. You can’t connect wires to a spinning armature because they’d get wrapped up in a knot immediately, right?
billrussell42
10. Feb, 2012
commutator does not cause current to change direction. Neither do brushes.
They both are a means of transferring electric power from the stationary surroundings to the rotating armature. As simple as that. If you didn’t have these parts, you would have an extension cord that twisted itself up and the motor would then stop.
Now it just happens that the combination of commutator and brushes, if setup correctly, causes the current to reverse direction as the armature rotates, thus making a DC motor work correctly.
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