Video narration
How can a ceiling fan keep spinning when the AC current keeps changing direction? Today we are going to understand how an AC motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Inside, a rectangular coil turns between the North and South poles of a permanent magnet. An axle supports it. Slip rings and carbon brushes maintain contact with the AC supply as it rotates. Field lines run from North to South. Current in the coil produces opposite magnetic forces on its two sides. Together, they create torque, the turning effect that rotates the coil around its axle. Here is the key: every half cycle, AC reverses the current. The forces reverse too, but the arrangement keeps the torque driving rotation. The motor does not simply stop. That is why the fan keeps spinning: electrical energy becomes mechanical energy through force on a current-carrying conductor in a magnetic field.