What makes compasses point north

Category: Earth Science Published: November 15, A magnetic compass does not point to the geographic north pole. A magnetic compass points to the earth's magnetic poles, which are not the same as earth's geographic poles. Furthermore, the magnetic pole near earth's geographic north pole is actually the south magnetic pole. When it comes to magnets, opposites attract.

By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Print Subscriptions. Deseret News homepage. Filed under:. Reddit Pocket Email Linkedin. The magnetic north pole lies a few hundred miles away from the true North Pole. Now they fix spines instead The bizarre story of a doctor who allegedly lied about hypothermia to get a helicopter rescue How can we help veterans feel remembered?

Show gratitude Salt Lake City gave police officers a pay raise 5 months ago. Is it keeping them on the job? This difference between true north and the north heading on a compass is an angle called declination. Declination varies from place to place because the Earth's magnetic field is not uniform it dips and undulates. These local disturbances in the field can cause a compass needle to point away from both the geographic North Pole and the magnetic North Pole.

According to the United States Geological Survey, at very high latitudes , a compass needle can even point south. Temporary disturbances of the magnetic field which can be of immediate concern are called magnetic storms. These occur when the earth is bombarded by particles emitted from the sun during a period of unusually high activity related to sunspots and solar flares.

In modern times, the main problems arising from magnetic storms are the communications blackouts which they cause. In Alaska, we tend to relate these eruptions on the sun with periods of intense auroral activity. To mariners, however, magnetic storms have been a curse for centuries. Luckless sailors could not understand what was causing their compasses to behave erratically, often leading them off course and onto the rocks.

At northern latitudes, the problem is worse because the field lines are steeply inclined, and the horizontal component the one to which the compass responds is less stable during magnetic disturbances than it is further south where the lines more closely parallel the surface. Modern measurements made at Sitka have recorded erratic deflections in the horizontal field of over 10 degrees in a period of only hours.