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Since the first rock that crushed open a nut in the years of the nomads, man has utilized technology. Only recently, in the past one-hundred and fifty years or so, has mankind harmed mother-nature while doing so, however. Some of the world has recognized that we are hurting the earth as well as ourselves by continuing down the industrial path. Henceforth, environmental technology! One of the most celebrated forms of environmental technology is the electric car (powered, of course, by the electrical motor). An electric motor is all about magnets and magnetism: A motor uses magnets to create motion. If you have ever played with magnets you know about the fundamental law of all magnets: Opposites attract and likes repel. So if you have two bar magnets with their ends marked "north" and "south," then the north end of one magnet will attract the south end of the other. On the other hand, the north end of one magnet will repel the north end of the other (and similarly, south will repel south). Inside an electric motor, these attracting and repelling forces create rotational motion. In the above diagram, you can see two magnets in the motor: The armature (or rotor) is an electromagnet, while the field magnet is a permanent magnet (