How does a magnetic compass work? Well, it’s all down to basic physics and human ingenuity. The key component of a standard baseplate compass is its magnetized needle, which is allowed to spin freely ...
James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...
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Why ships have two big metal balls on the compass stand, the simple fix for a steel ship’s magnetic errors
Modern steel ships warp a magnetic compass with both permanent and induced magnetism, and the binnacle is packed with clever countermeasures to cancel it out. This breaks down hard iron vs soft iron ...
Some inventions are so simple that it’s hard to improve them. The magnetic compass is a great example — a magnetized needle, a bit of cork, and a bowl of water are all you need to start navigating the ...
At some point during our primary school careers, most of us probably constructed a simple compass, often by floating a ...
THE subject of this lecture is the gyrostatic compass, often called the gyro-compass. An engineer of my acquaintance was asked if he under-stood what a gyro-compass was, and he replied, “Of course I ...
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