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Have you ever wondered how a compass works? It can lead you in the right direction by a little arrow! This article will tell how a compass works, how to use one and how to make one at home.
The compass has been around for a millennium. The first known compass is from China about a thousand year ago. Europe began using them about 300 years later. It was invented when travelers noticed that a magnetized needle floating on a chip of wood always swung around to point north. Some other first magnets were made by using a piece of lodestone, a naturally magnetic material, suspended by a thread and the lodestone pointed north. In the beginning people believed the needle or lodestone was being moved by magic or a great magician. They knew no scientific reason for it to spin around and point north.
Today we know that the Earth is a huge magnet. The earth has two poles one on the top and one on the bottom of the earth. But the north geographic pole and the north magnetic pole are not one and the same on the earth. The magnetic north pole is 1400 miles away from the geographic north pole. The magnetic North pole is in northern Canada. One end of every compass needle is drawn towards it.
You can make your own compass for fun.
Get a large darning needle. Magnetize it by stroking it’s entire length, 30 or more times, with the north end of a magnet bar. If you begin each stroke at the eye and end at the point, the point of the needle will be the south point on your compass and they eye will point north.
The magnetic needle should be inserted into a cork or through a light weight piece of card board. Now, it needs to be placed so that it can turn freely.
If your needle is in a cork put it in a dish of water and spin the dish around. You will notice that the eye of the needle always turns and points north.
If your needle is inserted in a piece of card board, tie a small thread to the top of the card board. Now use a tall jar and tie the thread to a pencil that rests on the mouth of the jar. Now the needle can spin freely in the jar. The eye will always point north win you spin the jar.
Make sure that there are no other magnets or iron nearby, they will interfere with your compass.
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