"Instead of trying to point horizontally, what your compass needle's actually trying to do is point straight down into the Earth." "So quite often, compasses actually won't work," said Tom Jordan, a geophysicist with the British Antarctic Survey. As you get closer to the magnetic South Pole, the field lines will curve to dive straight into the magnetic South Pole, running perpendicular to Earth's surface. When you take out your compass and let the needle settle, it will run parallel to the lines of Earth's magnetic field where you are standing.īut Earth's magnetic field is not arranged in straight lines all the way from the North Pole to the South Pole.
Earth's magnetic field is generated by the spin of the planet and the sloshing of iron-rich fluid in Earth's core, so the magnetic field - and the magnetic poles - shift in response to the speed and pattern of the fluid’s movement.Ĭompass needles are designed to align with Earth's magnetic field, with the north end of the needle pointing to the magnetic North Pole and the opposite end of the needle pointing to the magnetic South Pole.
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