Pearson Edexcel International GCSE Physics · specification 4PH1 · Paper 1 | Whole paper: Core content, all eight topics · Free · no account needed
6(c) Electromagnetism (4PH1 specification)
The field around a current, the force on a current in a field, and the motor that follows from both.
Learn it on Incandio
The 3 Incandio pages that teach this — each explained in full, then proved in marked questions, taught back to an AI pupil and defended in a debate. Completely free.
- Induced Magnetism and Field Patterns — Why an iron nail sticks to a magnet at all, why it never pushes back, and how to plot a field you cannot see.
- Electromagnets — The four pages of Latin that showed a current makes a field — and why that field goes round the wire rather than along it.
- The Motor Effect — Put a current in a magnetic field and something moves — the effect behind every electric motor and every loudspeaker.
The teaching route this belongs to: Topic 6 · Magnetism and electromagnetism (Physics) — the lessons in order, with every gate.
Specification coverage
Topic 6 Magnetism and electromagnetism (c) Electromagnetism — statements 6.7–6.13
Assessment objectives: AO1, AO2. Suggested learning time: 70 minutes.
Required knowledge
- The magnetic field pattern around a current-carrying wire and a solenoid
- The factors affecting the strength of an electromagnet
- The motor effect and the factors affecting the size and direction of the force
- Fleming's left-hand rule
- The construction and operation of a simple d.c. motor
Required skills
- Apply Fleming's left-hand rule correctly and consistently
- Predict the effect of reversing the current or the field
- Explain the function of the split-ring commutator
How it is examined
- Multiple-choice and short-answer recall
- Calculations using the specification's relationships
- Extended open-response applying the physics to an unfamiliar situation
Common mistakes
- Using the right hand for the motor effect. Left hand for motors; the right-hand rule belongs to induction.
- Saying the commutator 'keeps the motor going' without saying how: it reverses the current every half turn so the force keeps turning the coil the same way.
- Drawing the field around a wire as straight lines instead of concentric circles.
This page maps the specification. The pages above teach it, and the Physics lessons hold the whole course — completely free.