The topic of magnetism came up in our class, and in this lecture, my teacher said that the north geographic pole in our compass (or magnets in general) points towards the south magnetic pole of Earth. Adding the fact that our magnetic field flips every hundred thousands of years, how will it affect us and our daily living? The most I can think of is that our current compasses will become obsolete. What are your thoughts?
Thank you for answering!!
In: Planetary Science
So, you know how magnets poles point at each other when you play with magnets. The S of one and the N of another spin the magnets as they snap together.
Now… have you ever noticed where the red side of the needle points on a compass? It points north. It’s supposed to point north. It’s useful that it points north so we have an easier time finding north.
But wait a sec… The north side is always looking for a south pole to point at, why is it pointing north?
Oh crap! That’s a SOUTH pole above Canada. It’s NORTH where the penguins are!
So if this confuses or bothers you at all, you’re gonna be VERY happy when the poles flip, because even though we will have to use a Sharpie to change the compass a little, the red north side of the needle will be pointing at a south pole, so now the compass works as good as before, but now its more technically correct.
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