A magnetic compass works by using a magnetized needle that orients itself with the Earth's magnetic field to point towards magnetic north. The compass contains a freely suspended magnetic needle that displays the horizontal component of the Earth's magnetic field. As the Earth itself acts like a giant magnet, it exerts torque on the compass needle through its magnetic field, aligning one end of the needle towards magnetic north and the other towards magnetic south. Modern ship compasses are typically housed above the bridge and have features like a base plate, rotating bezel with compass points, liquid-filled housing allowing the needle to rotate freely, and a direction of travel arrow.
A magnetic compass works by using a magnetized needle that orients itself with the Earth's magnetic field to point towards magnetic north. The compass contains a freely suspended magnetic needle that displays the horizontal component of the Earth's magnetic field. As the Earth itself acts like a giant magnet, it exerts torque on the compass needle through its magnetic field, aligning one end of the needle towards magnetic north and the other towards magnetic south. Modern ship compasses are typically housed above the bridge and have features like a base plate, rotating bezel with compass points, liquid-filled housing allowing the needle to rotate freely, and a direction of travel arrow.
A magnetic compass works by using a magnetized needle that orients itself with the Earth's magnetic field to point towards magnetic north. The compass contains a freely suspended magnetic needle that displays the horizontal component of the Earth's magnetic field. As the Earth itself acts like a giant magnet, it exerts torque on the compass needle through its magnetic field, aligning one end of the needle towards magnetic north and the other towards magnetic south. Modern ship compasses are typically housed above the bridge and have features like a base plate, rotating bezel with compass points, liquid-filled housing allowing the needle to rotate freely, and a direction of travel arrow.
Magnetism is one of the first bits of science we learn in school and just about the first thing we discover is that "like poles repel, unlike poles attract." In other words, if you hold two bar magnets so their north poles are almost touching, they'll push away from one another; if you turn one of the magnets around so one magnet's north pole is near the other magnet's south pole, the magnets will pull toward one another. A compass is an instrument containing a freely suspended magnetic element which displays the direction of the horizontal component of the Earth’s magnetic field at the point of observation. Magnetic compass is the most important of all instruments aboard even the most modern vessel and it is probably the most reliable. It’s origins go back as long ago as 2300 BC, but the Chinese development of the compass card dates to the 14thcentury and the sophisticated instrument we know today became stabilized with the advent of steel ships in the 19th century. Magnetic compass is a primary means of navigation as a direction indicating device, of a ship. It is the ships standard compass. It is fitted above the bridge on the monkey Island at the centre line of the ship. When reading output is needed to other bridge equipments, then a transmitting magnetic compass is fitted. The Magnetic Compass is the most familiar compass type. It functions as a pointer to “Magnetic North”, the local magnetic meridian, because the magnetized needle at its heart aligns itself with the horizontal component of the Earth’s magnetic field. The magnetic field exerts a torque on the needle, pulling one end or pole of the needle approximately toward the Earth’s North magnetic pole, and pulling the other toward the South Magnetic pole. The needle is mounted on a low-friction pivot point, in better compasses a jewel bearing, so it can turn easily. When the compass is held level, the needle turns until, after a few seconds to allow oscillations to die out, it settles into its equilibrium orientation. The Principles of the compass A Magnetic compass is a critical piece of marine navigational equipment. Simply put, a magnetised needle, suspended freely, points North because of the forces caused by the Earth’s magnetic field. Once North is known, the other directions are easily found. The ship magnetic compass is usually housed on the ‘monkey island’ above the navigating bridge and reflected into the bridge by means of a periscope like device, so a helmsman can easily read the compass when he is steering the ship. A magnetic compass works because the Earth is like a giant magnet, surrounded by a huge magnetic field. The Earth has two magnetic poles which lie near the North and South poles. The magnetic field of the Earth causes a magnetized ‘needle’ of iron or steel to swing into a north-south position if it is hung from a thread, or if it is stuck through a straw or piece of wood floating in a bowl of water. A compass works by utilizing the Earth’s magnetism in order to find directions. Its invention enabled people to perform navigation over long distances, opening up the sea for exploration A compass points north because all magnets have two poles , a north pole and a south pole, and the north pole of one magnet is attracted to the south pole of another magnet.
The Earth is a magnet that can interact with
other magnets in this way, so the north end of a compass magnet is drawn to align with the Earth’s magnetic field. Because the Earth’s magnetic North Pole attracts the “north” ends of other magnets, it is technically the “South Pole” of our planet’s magnetic field. What are the features of a compass? 1. The base plate mounting of the compass, with a ruler for measuring scale. 2. The compass housing contains the magnetic needle and has the points of the compass printed on a circular, rotating bezel. 3. The compass needle floats on liquid so it can rotate freely, the red end should always point to magnetic north. 4. Orienting lines fixed within the compass housing and designed to be aligned with the vertical grid lines on a map. Half the lines are coloured red to indicate north. 5. Orienting arrow fixed within the compass housing, aligned to north on the housing. 6. The index line fixed within the outer edge of the compass housing as an extension of the direction of travel arrow. It marks the bearing you set by rotating the compass housing. 7. Magnifier for detailed map reading. 8. The direction of travel arrow shows the direction that you want to travel along or the bearing you are taking. It is fixed parallel to the sides of the base plate and aligned with the fixed index line on the edge of the compass housing (number 6). 9. Compass scale displayed along the edge of the base plate so you can measure distances on maps. 10. Luminous strip to assist navigation at night.
What Is A Magnetic Compass? A Compass Containing A Magnetic Needle Pivoted in A Horizontal Plane, It Indicates The Direction of Magnetic North at Points On The Earth's Surface