Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:39:06 -0800
From: Bernard Cleyet <bernardcleyet@redshift.com>
To: Forum for Physics Educators <phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu>
Subject: Re: [Phys-l] Is something wrong here?????
>
> On 2012, Feb 14, , at 12:22, Christopher M. Gould wrote:
> > ...
> > Now while it's true that you _can_ specify directions at
> > the South Pole, e.g., by identifying a particular line of
> > longitude, you can't specify a precise direction by giving
> > a name on a compass. All directions are north.
> >
> > It's a mistake. Let it die.
>
> ...
> p.p.s. Is Mr. Gould thinking of a gyroscopic compass instead
> of a magnetic one?
Doesn't matter. I didn't want to _use_ a compass (as you said, the
magnetic South Pole is not coincident with the rotational South Pole).
I just said that you can't use a _name_ on a compass. That is, "west"
makes no sense, or at best is imprecise if by someone's convention you
mean some range of directions that includes the entire Western
Hemisphere. At the South Pole all directions are north.
_________________
Christopher M. Gould 213-740-1101 Dept. of Physics & Astronomy
gould@usc.edu Univ. of Southern California http://physics.usc.edu/~gould/ Los Angeles, CA 90089-0484