Compass in UAE is one of the oldest navigation tools in history. Ever since mankind has gained a greater understanding of navigation and orientation, these tools have been one of the most important navigation tools in important journeys such as the first transoceanic journeys and traveling around the world. None of these journeys would be possible without the aid of a compass in making navigational calculations over long distances. Early explorers had to use local landmarks and stars to navigate, making travel to distant or unknown destinations extremely difficult. The compass was one of the major breakthroughs that made such journeys a reality. In this article, we talk about how the compass works.

How does a compass work?

The compass offshore works by detecting the Earth's natural magnetic fields. As you know, the earth has an iron core, which is partly liquid and partly solid crystal due to gravitational pressure. Motion in the liquid outer core is believed to be what generates the Earth's magnetic field. Like all magnetic fields, the Earth's magnetic field has two main poles, a north pole and a south pole.

These magnetic poles are slightly off the Earth's axis of rotation, which are used as geographic poles, but are still close enough to these poles that general directions can be calculated by calculating the angle difference, which is used as a declination angle for navigation.

Basically, a compass in Dubai is a light magnet with a magnetic needle on a freely rotating axis. This feature allows the needle to respond better to the surrounding magnetic fields. Since opposite magnetic poles attract each other, the south pole of the magnetic needle points to the natural magnetic north pole of the earth, and thus sailors can, for example, distinguish the direction of geographic north.

The first compasses were blue compasses invented by the Chinese during the Song Dynasty. These compasses were a piece of magnetized metal that floated in a bowl of water. The water axis provided the frictionless rotation needed to make the compass.

The compass later came into common use in the West in the 14th century. This led to what is now the Age of Discovery, where major European powers began to explore more of the world, including North and South America. While the compass was only one of the devices that ushered in this golden age of exploration, it played an important role in making it happen. Even now, modern navigation still relies on the compass and the accurate maps that come with it.

Who invented the compass?

No one knows exactly when the compass was invented, however the following is clear about the basic information about compass use:

The invention of the compass

 200-300 BC: Early magnetic orientators are believed to have been invented in China.

 12th century AD: More sophisticated compasses were invented independently in China, the Arab world, and Europe, with compass needles mounted on pins for the first time.

 13th century: Compasses had cards marked with cardinal points and their subdivisions.

 15th century: Navigators realized that compasses point to the Earth's magnetic north pole and not to its true geographic north pole.

 16th century: Nautical compasses were installed in gimbals to reduce the problems caused by the movement of ships.

 17th century: Englishman William Gilbert published a comprehensive scientific account of the Earth's magnetism and used it to explain why the compass points north.

 1880s: Scottish physicist William Thompson or Lord Kelvin designed a polarizer that could be used to work inside heavy iron-carrying ships.

 1880s: Dutchman Marinus Gerardus van den Bos patented and invented a gyroscope. After him, other people developed and modified this invention over several decades.

 1900s: Radio direction finding (RDF) was developed by Italian engineers Ettore Bellini and Alessandro Tosi.

 1906: Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe designed a modern gyroscope.

 1911: The gyroscope developed by Elmer Sperry was successfully tested on a ship for the first time.

 1920–1900: The radio compass (radio finder) was designed and built.

 1973: The US GPS satellite navigation project begins to navigate with more modern tools and methods away from traditional navigation. This development helped make navigation easier and faster.

Ship's compass

If you are moving on foot or by car with the help of a map, deviation and tilt angle are not very important. Generally there are other things that can help you find your way, and it won't be catastrophic if you take a wrong turn or two.

On a ship, away from land and in bad weather where you can't navigate by sky, it's a completely different matter. Before technological advancements such as GPS and radar, people's lives depended only on a compass for accurate navigation. Because of this, ship's compasses, sometimes called nautical compasses, were much more complicated than the ones people usually used on land.

In modern ship's compasses, the compass card is attached to a float with a number of magnetic needles below it and floats freely inside a large glass bowl filled with a mixture of alcohol and water to minimize friction and absorb vibrations from the ship. It is moving now. Everything is mounted on a gimbal (axis) in a stand called a "binnacle" so that even when the ship is pitching (moving up and down) and rolling in the waves, the compass remains horizontal.

Application of magnetic compass

In its simplest form, a compass is a light bar magnet (the same as a compass needle) that can easily rotate around its axis and align with the earth's magnetic field (poles), thus indicating the direction of the pole.

A compass needle is colored in a different color (usually red or green) which indicates the direction of the north pole, and once the north pole is recognized, it is easy to distinguish the directions of east, west and south.

In the world of GPS and Google Maps, the need for a compass is misunderstood. But the compass is one of the greatest inventions in history and has helped many adventurers and explorers navigate the sea and land for centuries. Especially the compass has played a very important role for sailors.

When using a magnetic compass, it should be kept away from ferromagnetic metals such as iron, as well as wires with electric current, so that they do not cause errors.

What is the function of a compass?

In its simplest form, the work of a compass is orientation. The compass shows the direction of the North Pole and knowing it, one can move in the right direction. Knowing the direction of the North Pole is especially important for mariners, and ships were among the first to be equipped with compasses.

A compass is one of the most important tools for orientation, and to use a map, you must know the direction of the North Pole and place the map in its direction.

The compass shown in the picture is Robert Perry's compass, which he used to reach the North Pole as the first man.

Magnetic compass  in Dubai

The most common type of compass is the magnetic compass, which consists of a magnetic needle and its holder. The earth's magnetic field exerts force on the compass needle and rotates it to align with the earth's magnetic field (north and south poles). The compass needle is placed on an axis with low friction and can easily rotate around it, in better compasses fine jewelry bearings are used, which have less friction and the needle rotates better on them, resulting in higher accuracy.

The magnetic and geographic poles of the earth do not coincide with each other, and for this reason, the compass shows the direction of the geographic pole with some deviation, which is different in different parts of the earth. On accurate orientation maps, this deviation is usually written so that one can navigate correctly using a compass. The geographic poles of the earth are fixed points, but the magnetic poles move over time, and for this reason, to increase the accuracy, you should use newer maps that have mentioned the new deviation values.

The main components of a magnetic compass  in UAE

You should first be able to know the main components of a compass. While the design of a compass may vary, all compasses contain a magnetic needle that aligns itself with the magnetic fields of the Earth. The home page of the compass, sometimes called the basic compass, has the following simple components:

The base plate, which is a transparent plastic plate, and the compass is installed on it.

The direction arrow is an arrow on the main screen of the compass that shows the direction of the compass.

The compass housing is a clear, clear plastic can that houses the magnetic compass needle.

Graduated plane, a circular graduated plane that shows all the degrees of a trigonometric circle.

The magnetic needle of the compass, which is the needle that rotates inside the compass housing.

Directional arrow, which is a non-magnetic arrow inside the compass housing.

Orientation lines are lines inside the compass housing that are parallel to the directional arrow.