Flick a switch and get instant power—how our ancestors would have loved electric motors! You can find them in everything from electric trains to

remote-controlled cars—and you might be surprised how common they are. How many electric motors are there in the room with

you right now? There are probably two in your computer for starters, one spinning your hard drive around and another one

powering the cooling fan. If you're sitting in a bedroom, you'll find motors in hair dryers and many toys; in the

bathroom, they're in extractor fans, and electric shavers; in the kitchen, motors are in just about every appliance from

clothes washing machines and dishwashers to coffee grinders, microwaves, and electric can openers. Electric motors have

proved themselves to be among the greatest inventions of all time. Let's pull some apart and find out how they work!