Before we move on to AC motors, let's quickly summarize what's going on here. In a DC motor, the magnet (and its magnetic field) is fixed in place and forms the outside, static part of the motor (the stator), while a coil of wire carrying the electric current forms the rotating part of the motor (the rotor). The magnetic field comes from the stator, which is a permanent magnet, while you feed the electric power to the coil that makes up the rotor. The interaction between the permanent magnetic field of the stator and the temporary magnetic field produced by the rotor is what makes the motor spin