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Re: south in the north



The north pole of a compass needle DOES point south. It's the
"north-SEEKING" pole that points to the Earth's magnetic north. So the
end of the compass needle marked N (for north) is actually the south
pole of the compass needle. This is supposed to avoid confusion!

I guess the point here is that Ms. Marilyn has gotten one wrong YET AGAIN! The
end of the compass needle marked N (for north) is in fact, just what it claims
to be; the north pole of a small magnet. It points to the Earth's magnetic
SOUTH. Which lies in the geographic region of northern Canada. The correct
convention for naming poles is to call the end which would point in the
geographic north direction, the north pole. This means that the magnetic
polarity in that direction must be a south magnetic pole.

As an interesting aside, if you ever purchase a "re-magnetizer" for your
classroom magnets, you should know that the two wells into which you place the
ends of the magnets are marked WRONG. If you hold the north pole of a PROPER
magnet near a compass, you will attract the south end of the compass. Since
this seems to confuse many people, the manufacturers of these re-magnetizers
have switched the labels on their apparatus so that the end of a magnet placed
into the well marked N, will come out attracting the North end of a compass
needle. Vice-versa for the well marked S of course. Kind of odd reasoning on
the part of the manufacturers. I guess they think something like 'since more
than half the people get it wrong, we'll switch things around so that we agree
with the majority.' Go figure!

--
Hans G. Ammitzboll physics@mindless.com
Drew University Physics Dept.
Madison NJ 07940
"Grow up, not old. Be childlike, not childish."
-Me