Question

In the olden days, sailors used to find direction by suspending a piece of ______ .

Answer 1

Bar magnet

1. It is a rectangular piece of a magnet. A bar magnet has permanent magnetic properties. Similar to other magnets, it has the north pole and the south pole

Property of bar magnet

1. It has a fantastic property that always comes to rest in the north-south direction when it is freely suspended from a point.
2. Even earth is a big magnet with south and north poles. When a bar magnet is suspended from a point, then it makes a position parallel to the earth's magnetic field.
3. In ancient days, people used bar magnets to identify the direction of ships in the sea.

So, in the olden days, sailors used to find direction by suspending a piece of a bar magnet.