Why compass needle direction always point to north and south
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Hello lovely friends
Have you ever been confused by the name of the cardinal directions? We can't say the direction right. I often mention different directions. In my opinion, the direction I was pointing was west, it turned out to be north. Sometimes the south that I mention turns out to be the west.
Well, in conditions like this it would be right if we use a compass. Compass is a solution for determining direction correctly. By looking at the maa compass we will know the true direction.
Compass needle direction
We may still remember the physics lessons at school. When discussing magnetic materials, the teacher will explain that one of the uses of magnets is the compass. The magnets used are needle magnets.
As a pointer the compass has a needle that will explain the direction to us. But have we ever noticed the needle as a direction only points to the north and south?
The cause of the compass needle always pointing north and south is following the magnetic nature of the earth. This is caused by the attractive force between the compass needle and the earth's magnet,
The earth we live on has a magnetic property. Geographically, the north pole of the earth's magnet is in the south of the earth and the south pole of the earth's magnet is in the north of the earth.
Earth's magnetic properties, the earth's core is filled with loadstone or rock that contains magnetism. The structure of the earth is composed of several layers, namely the earth's core, the earth's mantle, and the earth's crust. The earth's core is divided into two, namely the inner core which is solid and the outer core which is liquid. When the earth rotates, electrically charged particles in the liquid outer core of the earth also move and produce a magnetic field.
Well, back to the compass needle problem earlier. Because the earth is magnetic, there is an attractive force between the earth's magnet and the compass needle, as a result the compass always shows north and south.
In addition, when using a compass, the compass north needle does not point directly to the north, you know. There is a deviation on the compass needle which forms an angle called the declination angle. The declination angle is the angle formed by the north pole of the compass needle in the direction of magnetic north / geographic south. The declination angle will be positive if the north pole of the compass deviates to the east and negative if the north pole of the compass deviates to the west. For example, an object that is above the north pole has a declination angle of + 90 °, whereas if the object is above the south pole, the declination angle is -90 °.
We can also see that the position of the compass needle is not flat? This is because the direction of the earth's magnetic field force lines are not parallel to the earth's surface (horizontal plane). The position of the compass needle is slightly tilted at a certain angle. This angle is called the angle of inclination.
Then, what is the inclination angle?
The inclination angle is the angle formed between the tip of the compass needle and the horizontal direction of the earth's surface. The inclination angle is positive, if the north pole of the compass needle is above the horizontal line and negative if the north pole of the compass needle is below the horizontal line. For example, an object that is at the north pole has a declination angle of -90 °, whereas if the object is at the south pole, the declination angle is + 90 °.
That all my writing this time may useful for all of us.