# How a Fan Works

Follow a ball\-shaped desk fan from its switch and motor to its tilted blades and the breeze they make

By chocopoule

Topic: Machines

[Open the interactive Jig](https://ask.jig.com/j/jRcXXH75KRN5)

## Transcript

### 1. A breeze in a ball

This little fan has no cold air hidden inside\. All it does is move air, and move it fast\. Follow the journey from the switch to the breeze on your face\. Drag anywhere to turn the fan around\.

Pinch or scroll to look closer\.

### 2. Press the switch

The fan is resting\. Press the orange switch on top, or tap it on the fan itself\. The switch lets electricity flow into the motor, and the blades start to spin\.

Press it again to switch the fan off\.

### 3. The motor inside

Inside the round pod sits an electric motor\. Electricity flowing through coils of copper wire turns them into magnets\. Their pull keeps tugging the middle of the motor round and round, like a spinning push\.

The coils that stay still are called the stator\. The part that spins is the rotor\.

### 4. Shaft and hub

A short steel rod called the shaft comes out of the front of the motor\. The round orange hub is fixed onto it, and the blades are part of the hub\. When the motor turns, the blades must turn too\.

### 5. Blades are tilted wings

Look from the side while the blades turn slowly\. Each blade is tilted, like a little wing\. As it sweeps round, its slanted face shoves air forward, and fresh air rushes in from behind to fill the gap\.

These blades are tilted about 24 degrees\. Most fan blades are tilted somewhere between 15 and 35 degrees\.

### 6. Air on the move

The blue streaks show the air\. It is pulled in behind the fan, squeezed through the round duct and pushed out of the front as a swirling stream\. Try the slider: faster blades move more air\.

A big ceiling fan can move about 70 cubic metres of air a minute while turning less than twice a second\.

### 7. Why a breeze feels cool

The fan never makes the air colder\. Moving air carries body heat and sweat away from your skin faster, and that makes you feel cooler\. So a fan only cools people, not rooms\. Switch it off when you leave\!

The motor even warms the room a tiny bit while it runs\.