Ricci Franz L.

Ching
STS 10 BG

Magnetic Compass

The magnetic compass was first invented in China in the 11th or 12th century by
early Chinese scientists. A compass is a tool used to determine direction in relation to the
Earth’s magnetic poles. This functions since the Earth's magnetic field resembles that of a
bar magnet. North and south are indicated by the compass needle pointing in the location of
the magnetic field. The use of a compass significantly increased travel's accuracy and
safety, particularly while traveling by sea. The development of this tool made it feasible to
find a direction even in foggy and unstable weather conditions, and when no landmarks were
visible. Today, in the digital age, we have modern devices such as the GPS and navigation
applications such as Google Maps and Waze that function like a compass but are more
accurate and easy to use. These applications are able to detect traffic, offer better routes
and can even determine your travel time from point a to point b. The magnetic compass,
GPS devices and the navigation applications play an important role in our lives because they
help save time and give the right direction, especially to destinations we have not been to
yet.