Question

In which direction does a freely suspended compass needle align itself?

Answer 1

Earth's Magnetism

1. Like a bar magnet, our planet contains two magnetic poles, the north magnetic pole and the south magnetic pole.
2. The magnetic poles are closer to the geographic poles, but not quite there.
3. A compass needle points towards a magnetic pole. The magnetic north pole of the Earth is actually the geographic south pole and vice versa.
4. In addition, the compass needle is a small magnet with two magnetic poles. As a result of the magnetic field formed by the earth's core, it behaves as a very large magnet.
5. Because the Earth's magnetic South Pole is close to its geographic north, the compass needle, if allowed to spin in any direction, will always line up with the north-south direction.
6. We can say that when a magnetic needle is suspended freely above the earth, the south pole of the needle is attracted to the earth's magnetic north pole (geographic south pole) as the north pole of the magnet is always attracted to the south pole of the magnet and the north pole of the needle is attracted to the earth's magnetic south pole (geographic north pole).

Hence, freely suspended compass needlepoint in a geographic north-south direction.