Northward Ho! Create and Use Simple Compasses
Students create and use their own simple compasses, which are each made from a bowl of water, strong magnet, stick pin and Styrofoam peanuts. They learn how compasses work and about cardinal directions. They come to understand that the Earth's magnetic field has both horizontal and vertical components.
Students create their own simple compasses.Copyright 2004 Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399 USA. All rights reserved. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/results.aspx?qu=compass&ex=1#ai:MP900448670|mt:2|
Engineers put careful thought into designing compasses that are accurate, precise, durable and inexpensive. To accomplish this, they must thoroughly understand the orientation and strength of the Earth's magnetic field. Scientific concepts such as magnetic declination are important to engineers who design digital compasses that compensate for this effect.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Explain how a compass works and compass directions.
- Explain that the Earth's magnetic field has both horizontal and vertical components.
- Describe the connection between navigation technology (such as digital compasses) and scientific concepts such as magnetic declination.