of the motor, where the load is applied. Because the forces of the load are exerted beyond the outermost bearing, the load is said to be overhung. Stator The stator surrounds the rotor, and usually holds field magnets, which are either electromagnets consisting of wire windings around a ferromagnetic iron core or permanent magnets. These create a magnetic field that passes through the rotor armature, exerting force on the windings. The stator core is made up of many thin metal sheets that are insulated from each other, called laminations. These laminations are made using electrical steel which has a specified magnetic permeability, hysteresis, and saturation. Laminations are used to reduce losses that would result from induced circulating eddy currents that would flow if a solid core were used. Mains powered AC motors typically immobilize the wires within the windings by impregnating them with varnish in a vacuum. This prevents the wires in the winding from vibrating against each other which would abrade the wire insulation causing it to fail prematurely. Resin-packed motors, used in deep well submersible pumps, washing machines, and air conditioners, encapsulate the stator in plastic resin to prevent corrosion and/or reduce conducted noise. Armature The armature consists of wire windings on a ferromagnetic core. Electric current passing through the wire causes the magnetic field from the field magnet to exert a force (Lorentz force) on it, turning the rotor, which delivers the mechanical output. Windings are wires that are laid in coils, usually wrapped around a laminated, soft, iron, ferromagnetic core so as to form magnetic poles when energized with current. Electric machines come in salient- and nonsalient-pole configurations. In a salient-pole motor the ferromagnetic cores on the rotor and stator have projections called poles facing each other, with a wire winding around each pole below the pole face, which become north or south poles of the magnetic field when current flows through the wire. In a nonsalient-pole (or distributed field or round-rotor) motor, the ferromagnetic core is a smooth cylinder, with the windings distributed evenly in slots about the circumference. Supplying alternating current in the windings creates poles in the core that rotate continuously. A shaded-pole motor has a winding around part of the pole that delays the phase of the magnetic field for that pole. Commutator A commutator is a rotary electrical switch that supplies current to the rotor. It periodically reverses the flow of