Question

The south pole of earth's magnet is in the

• A. geographical east
• B. geographical west
• C. geographical north
• D. geographical south

Answer 1

The correct option is C geographical north

Answer is C.
A freely suspended magnet always points in the North-South direction even in the absence of any other magnet. This suggests that the Earth itself behaves as a magnet which causes a freely suspended magnet (or magnetic needle) to point always in a particular direction: North and South. The shape of the Earth's magnetic field resembles that of a bar magnet of length one-fifth of the Earth's diameter buried at its center.
The South Pole of the Earth's magnet is in the geographical North because it attracts the North Pole of the suspended magnet and vice versa. Thus, there is a magnetic S-pole near the geographical North, and a magnetic N-pole near the geographical South. The positions of the Earth's magnetic poles are not well defined on the globe; they are spread over an area. The axis of Earth's magnet and the geographical axis do no coincide. The axis of the Earth's magnetic field is inclined at an angle of about 15 degrees with the geographical axis. Due to this a freely suspended magnet makes an angle of about 15 degrees with the geographical axis and points only approximately in the North-South directions at a place.