We are going to teach you how to make your own homemade compass taking advantage of the Earth’s magnetism.
Are you tired of getting lost in the woods while hiking? Would you like to have your own compass to find your way back home?
Well you’re in luck! In this post, we will teach you how to build your own homemade compass with easily available materials. Get ready to be the king or queen of orienteering on your next adventures!
What material do you need to build the compass
First of all, I recommend gathering these materials at first so you don’t have to go looking for them once we start creating our masterpiece.
Some of them may be harder to find, but I’ll try to give you some clues.
- A piece of cork: Use the stopper from a wine bottle or a piece of tray.
- Magnet: Inside every electronic device, no matter how small, there is usually a magnet.
- A needle or nail: In any tool or sewing box.
- Plastic container: It can be a glass or plate (also glass, although it could break).
- Water: Any type works.
What are the steps to build it
The steps to create the compass are actually quite simple and putting it together shouldn’t take you more than 15 minutes if you know how.
First, fill the container with enough water so that the cork that we will insert later can float. Then, cut the cork into a little wheel and check that it floats before continuing. Fleet? Perfect, next step!
Then, we would take the nail or needle and rub one of the tips with a wool sweater or a fabric that increases the electrical charge through static energy.
Stick the needle into the cork and place it calmly in the water.
Now the magic comes, you will see how it begins to move only in such a way that the tip that we had been rubbing, and which contains the static energy, begins to point in a direction, which …voila! It is the magnetic North.
By rubbing the needle with the magnet the nail becomes magnetized, indicating the north pole and a south pole, like the rest of the magnets. The magnetism of the magnet causes it to repel or attract another magnet, depending on the charge of the poles, in this case the other magnet would be the Earth’s magnetic field. The magnetized needle rotates freely until the north and south poles of the needle are aligned with the Earth’s magnetism, since the cork floats in water and there is nothing to stop its movement. Well, as you can see, it has not cost us anything to make our own homemade compass and it is a very interesting activity for children and adults. We can use it at any time, although you may have to rub the needle every time you use it if you don’t use it for a long time. I hope I have been of great help to you!!
How the magnetic compass works
Final conclusion