2. How is a magnetic compass useful to the sailors?
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The magnetic compass was an important advance in navigation because it allowed mariners to determine their direction even if clouds obscured their usual astronomical cues such as the North Star. It uses a magnetic needle that can turn freely so that it always points to the north pole of the Earth's magnetic field.
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The magnetic compass was an important advance in navigation because it allowed mariners to determine their direction even if clouds obscured their usual astronomical cues such as the North Star. It uses a magnetic needle that can turn freely so that it always points to the north pole of the Earth's magnetic field. Knowing where north is allows the other directions to be determined as well. The compass was invented by the Chinese, and was widely used for navigation beginning in about the thirteenth century.
The phenomenon of magnetism was known to the ancient Greeks, but the magnetic compass was invented by the Chinese. The thirteenth century explorer Marco Polo (1254-1324) is said to have brought a compass with him when he returned to Venice after his twenty years of service in the court of Kublai Khan (1215-1294). He may indeed have carried home such a souvenir. However, the knowledge that a piece of the naturally magnetic iron ore magnetite (Fe3O4), called a lodestone, would align itself from north to south if allowed to move freely, seems to have arisen at least a century before Marco Polo in Europe and the Arab world Scholars continue to debate whether this discovery was independent, or whether the new technology was spread westward from China through trade or other contact between civilizations. Some speculate that the Chinese may have used lodestones for navigation in voyages to the east coast of India in about 100 b.c. Chinese references to a "south pointer" are found in texts as early as the first century a.d. The south pointer was a spoon carved from lodestone, which was allowed to rotate on a smooth brass plate until its handle pointed south.
Magnets align themselves along the north-south axis because the Earth itself is a huge magnet. The poles of the Earth's magnetic field roughly correspond to the rotational axis of the globe. This means that the north magnetic pole is in the approximate direction of the north geographic pole, or true north. A light magnet that can move freely will align itself in the north-south direction. However, a heavy bar magnet lying on a tabletop will not move because gravity and friction counteract the magnetic force.
Before the magnetic compass, sailors navigated by the position of the stars. They knew, for example, that the North Star, Polaris, remained in a fixed northerly position in the sky while the other stars seemed to move around it. But this method was completely useless when the stars were obscured by clouds or fog. As a result, early mariners preferred to stay near the coast as they traveled from place to place. Even the daring Vikings, the first Europeans known to have reached the New World, did so in the northern latitudes where the open water distance was shorter, and used North Atlantic islands like Iceland and Greenland as stepping-stones.
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The phenomenon of magnetism was known to the ancient Greeks, but the magnetic compass was invented by the Chinese. The thirteenth century explorer Marco Polo (1254-1324) is said to have brought a compass with him when he returned to Venice after his twenty years of service in the court of Kublai Khan (1215-1294). He may indeed have carried home such a souvenir. However, the knowledge that a piece of the naturally magnetic iron ore magnetite (Fe3O4), called a lodestone, would align itself from north to south if allowed to move freely, seems to have arisen at least a century before Marco Polo in Europe and the Arab world Scholars continue to debate whether this discovery was independent, or whether the new technology was spread westward from China through trade or other contact between civilizations. Some speculate that the Chinese may have used lodestones for navigation in voyages to the east coast of India in about 100 b.c. Chinese references to a "south pointer" are found in texts as early as the first century a.d. The south pointer was a spoon carved from lodestone, which was allowed to rotate on a smooth brass plate until its handle pointed south.
Magnets align themselves along the north-south axis because the Earth itself is a huge magnet. The poles of the Earth's magnetic field roughly correspond to the rotational axis of the globe. This means that the north magnetic pole is in the approximate direction of the north geographic pole, or true north. A light magnet that can move freely will align itself in the north-south direction. However, a heavy bar magnet lying on a tabletop will not move because gravity and friction counteract the magnetic force.
Before the magnetic compass, sailors navigated by the position of the stars. They knew, for example, that the North Star, Polaris, remained in a fixed northerly position in the sky while the other stars seemed to move around it. But this method was completely useless when the stars were obscured by clouds or fog. As a result, early mariners preferred to stay near the coast as they traveled from place to place. Even the daring Vikings, the first Europeans known to have reached the New World, did so in the northern latitudes where the open water distance was shorter, and used North Atlantic islands like Iceland and Greenland as stepping-stones.
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