The compass was invented by the Chinese in so-long-ago BC,
but it wasn’t used for navigation until later. The Chinese, famous for
practicing Fengshui, used the compass as an accessory for the purposes of
spiritual life. Lodestone, a naturally occurring magnet was used by the Chinese
fortune tellers in their craft. Before the invention of the compass,
astronomical knowledge of stars and the Sun was depended upon by travellers to
determine position and direction. Soon it was discovered that lodestone aligns
itself along the magnetic north/south axis of earth, and the first magnetic
compasses
 |
| Compass |
were made for navigational purposes. Long back, the compass was known
as the “matsyayantra” in our country, because the device consisted of a
metallic fish (from an early Chinese design) placed purposes of spiritual life.
Lodestone, a naturally occurring magnet was used by the Chinese fortune tellers
in their craft. Before the invention of the compass, astronomical knowledge of
stars and the Sun was depended upon by travellers to determine position and
direction. Soon it was discovered that lodestone aligns itself along the
magnetic north/south axis of earth, and the first magnetic compasses were made
for navigational purposes. Long back, the compass was known as the
“matsyayantra” in our country, because the device consisted of a metallic fish
(from an early Chinese design) placed in a cup of oil; the oil was used to make
the magnetic needle settle quickly. However, the early compasses didn’t really
help Columbus in his voyage when he landed at west Indies instead of India. It
was found that the true geodetic north (the North Pole) is different from the
magnetic north (in noryhern Canada), as pointed out by the magnetic needle. As
time passed, better, more accurate and purpose-specific compasses were made.
Gyrocompass is a non-magnetic compass that finds the true north. It’s similar
to the gyroscope, in that it uses a (electrically powered) fast-spinning disc
and friction forces due to rotation of the Earth. This type of compass is
mainly used on ships as it’s not affected by ferromagnetic metals. Today we use
our smartphones to give us directions, possible due to in-built magnetometers.
It provides data to the microprocessor and directions are calculations are
calculated using trigonometry by internals electronics.
