I Made A Solenoid Engine!

less than 1m read

·Nov 10, 2024

I built a solenoid engine. Unlike most motors out there that hide how they work, this beauty bears all. A solenoid is a kind of electromagnet. When electricity flows through this coil, a magnetic field pulls the magnet-topped piston inside up. But when the piston reaches the top, a cam on the axle it’s turning cuts off the flow of electricity, and the flywheel's momentum pulls the piston back down.

But once down, the cam disengages, electrical flow resumes, and the piston goes up again. You can see how it turns electrical energy into rotational energy. To make this happen, my team and I got to design a bunch of custom cross axle compatible parts that I had been wanting for a long time: special cams, pistons, arms, wires, a heavy brass flywheel, and of course, the solenoids themselves.

We even made elliptical gears, Nautilus gears, and a Geneva mechanism. If you’d like to build one yourself and add these parts to your arsenal—too bad, so sad, psych! You can buy one! ABS plastic, ooh, and look at those colors! The first 500 people to use code "I love you Michael" will get 10% off.

Radius comparison from velocity and angular velocity: Worked example | AP Physics 1 | Khan Academy

Limits of composite functions: internal limit doesn't exist | AP Calculus | Khan Academy

View All

To, two, and too | Frequently confused words | Usage | Grammar

Hello grammarians! Today we’re going to talk about the confusion that happens between these three homophones: these three words that sound exactly the same. The preposition “to,” the number “two,” and the adverb “too.” Now, these words all sound very sim…

2016 Breakthrough Junior Challenge with Priscilla Chan | National Geographic

The Breakthrough Junior Challenge is a video competition in which we invite you to submit creative and exciting explanations of ideas in math and science. Last year, Ryan Chester won the first Breakthrough Junior Challenge prize. “Make a video about scie…

I Struck A Match With a Bullet (380,117 frames per second SlowMo) - Smarter Every Day 294

Hey, it’s me, Destin. Welcome back to Smarter Every Day. Goggle up because science is about to happen. This is my buddy John Henry. Hey, how’s it going? Way back before, Smarter Every Day was Smarter Every Day; it was just a couple dudes hanging out in th…

Understanding theme | Reading | Khan Academy

Hello readers! Today I want to talk about themes. A theme is an important idea that is woven throughout a story. It’s not the plot or the summary, but something a little deeper. A theme links a big idea about our world with the action of a text. Sometimes…

Setting up a system of equations from context example

In this video, we’re going to get some more practice setting up systems of equations, not solving them, but just setting them up. So we’re told Sanjay’s dog weighs 5 times as much as his cat. His dog is also 20 kilograms heavier than his cat. Let c be the…

Intro to adverbs | The parts of speech | Grammar | Khan Academy

Hello grammarians! Today we are going to talk skillfully and patiently about adverbs and what it is that adverbs do. In order to do that, I think it might be useful to talk about what adjectives do first. So, adjectives can modify stuff. I should have be…

I Made A Solenoid Engine!

More Articles