Make Your Own Compass
Materials:
- 1 clear round dish with a flat bottom
- 1 round piece of cork, about 2 inches thick and 4 inches in diameter (you can glue several cork sheets together if necessary)
- 1 large needle
- 1 strong magnet
- Compass
- Paper pieces that have the letters “N”,”S”,”E”, and “W”
- Scotch tape
Instructions:
1. If you need to stick together several pieces of cork sheet with glue, do so a day before so that the glue has time to set.
2. Fill your round dish with water, about halfway. Place a compass beside it, and using scotch tape, tape the letters “N”, “S”, “E”, and “W” in their corresponding places.
3. Stroke the needle with the large magnet several times and always in the same direction. Afterwards, keep the magnet away from the needle.
4. Tape the needle onto the cork piece quickly and set it gently down into the water.
5. Your needle should slowly move the cork and point north. This compass will stay magnetized for a while, and then you will have to stroke the needle again.
When a magnet is stroked against a piece of metal or steel, it temporarily magnetizes it. This is why the needle is able to point north. This method is the same method some navigators used in earlier times. They would carry lodestones with them in order to re‐magnetize their needles when needed.
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