Explain The General Working Principle And

Features of Magnetic Compass

Magnetism is one of the first bits of science we
learn in school and just about the first thing we
discover is that "like poles repel, unlike poles
attract." In other words, if you hold two bar
magnets so their north poles are almost
touching, they'll push away from one another; if
you turn one of the magnets around so one
magnet's north pole is near the other magnet's
south pole, the magnets will pull toward one
another.
A compass is an instrument containing a freely
suspended magnetic element which displays
the direction of the horizontal component of
the Earth’s magnetic field at the point of
observation.
Magnetic compass is the most important of all
instruments aboard even the most modern
vessel and it is probably the most reliable. It’s
origins go back as long ago as 2300 BC, but the
Chinese development of the compass card
dates to the 14thcentury and the sophisticated
instrument we know today became stabilized
with the advent of steel ships in the
19th century.
Magnetic compass is a primary means of
navigation as a direction indicating device, of a
ship.
 It is the ships standard compass.
 It is fitted above the bridge on the
monkey Island at the centre line of the ship.
 When reading output is needed to other
bridge equipments, then a transmitting
magnetic compass is fitted.
The Magnetic Compass is the most familiar
compass type. It functions as a pointer
to “Magnetic North”, the local magnetic
meridian, because the magnetized needle at its
heart aligns itself with the horizontal
component of the Earth’s magnetic field.
The magnetic field exerts a torque on the
needle, pulling one end or pole of the needle
approximately toward the Earth’s North
magnetic pole, and pulling the other toward
the South Magnetic pole. The needle is
mounted on a low-friction pivot point, in better
compasses a jewel bearing, so it can turn easily.
When the compass is held level, the needle
turns until, after a few seconds to allow
oscillations to die out, it settles into its
equilibrium orientation.
The Principles of the compass
A Magnetic compass is a critical piece of marine
navigational equipment. Simply put, a
magnetised needle, suspended freely, points
North because of the forces caused by the
Earth’s magnetic field. Once North is known,
the other directions are easily found.
The ship magnetic compass is usually housed
on the ‘monkey island’ above the navigating
bridge and reflected into the bridge by means
of a periscope like device, so a helmsman can
easily read the compass when he is steering the
ship.
A magnetic compass works because the Earth is
like a giant magnet, surrounded by a huge
magnetic field. The Earth has two magnetic
poles which lie near the North and South poles.
The magnetic field of the Earth causes a
magnetized ‘needle’ of iron or steel to swing
into a north-south position if it is hung from a
thread, or if it is stuck through a straw or piece
of wood floating in a bowl of water.
A compass works by utilizing the Earth’s
magnetism in order to find directions. Its
invention enabled people to perform navigation
over long distances, opening up the sea for
exploration
A compass points north because all magnets
have two poles , a north pole and a south pole,
and the north pole of one magnet is attracted
to the south pole of another magnet.

The Earth is a magnet that can interact with

other magnets in this way, so the north end of a
compass magnet is drawn to align with the
Earth’s magnetic field. Because the Earth’s
magnetic North Pole attracts the “north” ends
of other magnets, it is technically the “South
Pole” of our planet’s magnetic field.
What are the features of a compass?
1. The base plate mounting of the compass,
with a ruler for measuring scale.
2. The compass housing contains the magnetic
needle and has the points of the compass
printed on a circular, rotating bezel.
3. The compass needle floats on liquid so it can
rotate freely, the red end should always point to
magnetic north.
4. Orienting lines fixed within the compass
housing and designed to be aligned with the
vertical grid lines on a map. Half the lines are
coloured red to indicate north.
5. Orienting arrow fixed within the compass
housing, aligned to north on the housing.
6. The index line fixed within the outer edge of
the compass housing as an extension of the
direction of travel arrow. It marks the bearing
you set by rotating the compass housing.
7. Magnifier for detailed map reading.
8. The direction of travel arrow shows the
direction that you want to travel along or the
bearing you are taking. It is fixed parallel to the
sides of the base plate and aligned with the
fixed index line on the edge of the compass
housing (number 6).
9. Compass scale displayed along the edge of
the base plate so you can measure distances on
maps.
10. Luminous strip to assist navigation at night.