Students can build simple motors using a magnet, magnetic wire, and a battery. When an electric current starts to move along a wire, it creates a magnetic field all around it. If you loop the wire and place it near a permanent magnet, this temporary magnetic field interacts with the permanent magnet's field. You'll know that two magnets placed near one another either attract or repel. In the same way, the temporary magnetism around the looped wire attracts or repels the permanent magnetism from the magnet, and that's what causes the looped wire to move.