Community > Science & Philosophy

Topic: Have your compasses been changing as the earth pole shifts?
Jeanniebean Joined Wed 01/30/08 Posts: 40028	Sun 10/09/11 09:20 AM
a compass will always point to MAGNETIC north, conrad. not to TRUE north. in fact a magnetic compass is all but useless for navigating the extreme northern latitudes. with the invention of gps and other lrn systems, the mag compass is pretty much useless anywhere anymore. Actually in the Bahamas and a few more places,Geographic and Magnetic North coincide! Other Places you have to make the Corrections on the Charts! Interesting.

Conrad_73 Joined Sat 09/29/07 Posts: 22488	Sun 10/09/11 09:24 AM
Interesting Article on the Compass! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compass

jrbogie Joined Sat 03/01/08 Posts: 2490	Mon 10/10/11 04:16 AM
a compass will always point to MAGNETIC north, conrad. not to TRUE north. in fact a magnetic compass is all but useless for navigating the extreme northern latitudes. with the invention of gps and other lrn systems, the mag compass is pretty much useless anywhere anymore. Actually in the Bahamas and a few more places,Geographic and Magnetic North coincide! Other Places you have to make the Corrections on the Charts! yep. along the agonic line a mag compass will point to true north. unless of course you're standing between mag north and true north along the agonic line. lol. you guys figure it out but i've been there. flew the polar routes between asia and europe several times and i can tell you the magnetic compass was about as useful as a boat anchor at those latitudes.

wux Joined Wed 07/29/09 Posts: 7426	Sat 10/22/11 03:41 PM
Have your compasses been changing as the earth pole shifts? Will it continue, and how far will it shift? Confirmed Earth Pole are Shifting (Jan 2011 NEWS) The magnetic pole just shifts, not thinks, So I came here in vain to sit with sphynx.

wux Joined Wed 07/29/09 Posts: 7426	Sat 10/22/11 03:45 PM
Have your compasses been changing as the earth pole shifts? Will it continue, and how far will it shift? Confirmed Earth Pole are Shifting (Jan 2011 NEWS) The magnetic pole, that shifty drifter, Tickles my fancy, and my quiv'ry sphynkster.

s1owhand Joined Fri 05/18/07 Posts: 29437	Sat 10/22/11 05:56 PM Edited by s1owhand on Sat 10/22/11 05:57 PM
Have your compasses been changing as the earth pole shifts? Will it continue, and how far will it shift? Confirmed Earth Pole are Shifting (Jan 2011 NEWS) The magnetic pole, that shifty drifter, Tickles my fancy, and my quiv'ry sphynkster. it will reverse polarity. the positions of magnetic north and magnetic south are interchanged every chron or so just 780,000 years ago N was S and S was N before the Brunhes–Matuyama reversal but it'll reverse again eventually...so don't worry....

massagetrade Joined Thu 02/22/07 Posts: 8505	Sat 10/22/11 08:30 PM
Have your compasses been changing as the earth pole shifts? Will it continue, and how far will it shift? Confirmed Earth Pole are Shifting (Jan 2011 NEWS) The magnetic pole, that shifty drifter, Tickles my fancy, and my quiv'ry sphynkster. it will reverse polarity. the positions of magnetic north and magnetic south are interchanged every chron or so just 780,000 years ago N was S and S was N before the Brunhes–Matuyama reversal but it'll reverse again eventually...so don't worry.... By 'reverse polarity' you mean the two poles will migrate, slowly, so that magnetic north is near geographic south, right? (Some people think that the poles will reverse polarity with a sudden switch of direction, the way an AC motor can switch direction. As if it could happen overnight. I think (???) it normally takes hundreds or thousands of years for the pole reversal to occur.)

AdventureBegins Joined Tue 04/10/07 Posts: 7666	Sat 10/22/11 10:47 PM
Aye many years... But the process will increase its drift the closer it gets to the time of complete 'change'. and following the way a field behaves. Snap at the end.

wux Joined Wed 07/29/09 Posts: 7426	Sat 10/22/11 11:44 PM Edited by wux on Sat 10/22/11 11:46 PM
Have your compasses been changing as the earth pole shifts? Will it continue, and how far will it shift? Confirmed Earth Pole are Shifting (Jan 2011 NEWS) The magnetic pole, that shifty drifter, Tickles my fancy, and my quiv'ry sphynkster. it will reverse polarity. the positions of magnetic north and magnetic south are interchanged every chron or so just 780,000 years ago N was S and S was N before the Brunhes–Matuyama reversal but it'll reverse again eventually...so don't worry.... Erm... what exactly do you mean by putting your op on my quote? You mean... that my quiv'ry sphincster will reverse polarity???? Wow. I'm 58 soon. At this age you'd think you'd seen them all. And bang, (no pun) there is another surprise waiting for you as you pass the next pole.