Finding directions with a magnet

Finding directions with a magnet

Tie a piece of thread to the centre of a bar magnet and suspend it. Note, in which direction the magnet stops. Draw a line on a sheet of cardboard or the table along the direction in which the bar magnet stops (i.e) a line parallel to the bar magnet). Turn the magnet gently and let it come to stop again. Repeat it three or four times.

Does the bar magnet stop in the same direction each time?

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In which direction does the magnet stop every time ? ---------------------------------------

This is roughly the north-south direction. The end of the magnet that points to the north is called the North Pole. The end that points to the south is called the South Pole.

A freely suspended magnet always comes to rest in north-south direction.

The directive property of magnets has been used for centuries to find directions. Around 800 years ago, the Chinese discovered that a suspended lode stone stops in the north-south direction. Chinese used these lode stones to find directions.

The navigators of that country used to keep a piece of lode stone suspended in their boats and during a storm or mist, they used the lode stone to locate directions.