SECOND CLASS SCOUT

How a Compass works

The first compasses appeared in China about a thousand years ago and in Europe a few hundred years later. Travelers noticed that a magnetized needle floating on a chip of wood always swung around to point north. Many people believed that the needle moved by magic. Today we know that Earth itself acts as a huge magnet. One pole of this global magnet is in northern Canada, and one end of every compass needle is drawn toward it. That end is usually painted red or stamped with the letter N.

Two Norths

The maps you are most likely to use on Scout hikes are drawn with their tops aimed at true north. Extend the boundaries on either side of a map far enough upward and those lines will reach the North Pole. You could say that maps are made to speak the language of true north.

Compass needles, however, do not point to true north. Instead, they are pulled toward magnetic north, the area in Canada more than a thou- sand miles away from the North Pole. Compasses speak magnetic north, a different language from that used by maps.

Arrows drawn in the bottom margin of many maps show the differ- ence. The true-north arrow points toward the North Pole. The magnetic - north arrow points toward magnetic north. The difference between true north and magnetic north, measured in degrees, is called declination.