If you are standing in your front garden, how do you know which way is east? If it’s a sunny early morning, you can easily tell. The sun rises in the east, so you just have to face the direction of the rising sun. But what if it is cloudy outside?
Even on a cloudy day, a good way to tell direction is with a compass. A simple compass has a magnetized needle that’s mounted so that it can turn freely. No matter which way you face or turn the compass, the needle will continue pointing north.
How does a compass tell which way is north? The needle of a compass is a magnet. It points north because it is pulled by a larger magnet-the earth. One end of the earth’s magnet is near the North Pole, and the other end is near the South Pole. The north-seeking end of a magnetic needle always points towards the earth’s north magnetic pole.
Picture Credit : Google
