How to make a compass with your own hands at home or in nature. How to make a compass from improvised means? Homemade cardboard compass

Sometimes on long trips there is an urgent need to correctly determine the cardinal points. It may even happen that the life and health of the members of the expedition will depend on this. If you have a compass, no problem. What if it's broken or lost? Then the options are as follows: determine the cardinal points by the stars, the sun, signs, or make a primitive compass on your own. I just want to tell you how to make a compass yourself, using only available materials. We will consider several variations of such home-made devices.

Do-it-yourself compass from a needle and a container of water

We will need:

Glass or ceramic container with fresh water (metal will not work, as they will distort the magnetic field).
Needle
A piece of floating material (cork, foam, foam rubber)

Assembling a homemade compass

Cut off a small piece of floating material. The most important thing is that it should be of such a size as to ensure the buoyancy of the needle attached to it, and at the same time, that it be of such a size that the forces of the surface tension of the water and the drag forces are negligible - this is necessary to ensure the accuracy of the readings.

The needle will play the role of an arrow. First you need to make sure that one end of the needle is magnetized and the other is not. If you have magnets at hand (they are present in the speakers of the player, receiver, in electric motors, etc.), then you can magnetize the needle-arrow with their help. If there are no magnets, then you can simply hold one end of the needle over the flame for 25-35 seconds, after which this tip will be demagnetized (if you were interested in physics at school, you understand why this happens). So, the arrow is ready. Its magnetized end will point to the Serer, and the non-magnetized end to the South.

We fasten the needle-arrow to the float. It is most convenient to gently pierce the float with a needle along the axis of symmetry. Such fastening is simple and at the same time reliable. It remains just to place the float with the arrow in a container of water so that the walls of the container do not interfere with the rotation of the arrow. The compass is ready, it remains to calibrate it.

If you know which tip of your needle was magnetized and which was not, you can immediately judge where north is by the position of the magnetized tip. If you do not know, then the following facts will help you determine where North and South are: the place where the sun rises and where it sets (Sunrise-East, Sunset-West) or the position of the polar star. Using these signs, you can easily calibrate your homemade compass.

Do-it-yourself compass without the use of liquid

We will need:

Needle or safety razor blade
Transparent bottle
Fine thread or fishing line

Construction assembly

We make a compass needle and magnetize it, as described in the previous instructions. To make an arrow, you can use a needle or a safety razor blade. You can also make an arrow from a half of a razor blade.

We tie a thread or fishing line to an impromptu arrow in the center of its gravity. We place the arrow inside the transparent vessel so that it is on weight. The vessel will protect our structure from the wind.

We calibrate the resulting compass according to the method described in the last paragraph of the previous instructions and get a device ready for use.

As you can see, making your own compass is not that difficult. On the one hand, we looked at interesting solutions, and if we dig deeper, it becomes obvious that we have replenished our knowledge box with extremely useful information! Good luck with your travels, friends.

And you still have an interesting video from the network on our topic:

Always ready! [Modern Men's Extreme Survival Course] Green Rod

How to make a compass with your own hands

If you are lost, expect trouble. Any sane gentleman will double check and double check his hiking gear to make sure he has all the maps he can possibly need, as well as a compass for orientation. But suddenly you find yourself in some complete wilderness without any improvised means that could tell you the way to civilization? Well, all is not lost (even if you are lost), as you can always come to the aid of the good old ways to find the right path.

What will you need

Wristwatch (with an arrow, not electronic)

What do we have to do

This tricky technique never fails, as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west anywhere on the globe, making it easy for you to tell which is north and which is south. If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, then at exactly noon the sun will point due south. If you are in the South, then the midday luminary will point you to the north.

If you have a watch, then you can determine the cardinal directions at any time of the day. If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, position your watch face horizontally with the hour hand pointing towards the sun. Taking half the distance from the hour hand to the twelve o'clock mark on the dial, you get the direction to the south. If you repeat the same steps south of the equator, then you will know where the north is.

If there is no clock with an arrow, just draw a clock face on a piece of paper. You will have to look at the time somewhere else (on an electronic watch, for example, or on a mobile phone), after which you can draw the corresponding arrangement of arrows on paper.

It is unlikely that you will get a perfect picture, but in an emergency it will still help you out.

For another way to make a homemade compass, you will need to get a sewing needle a few inches long, a small magnet, a piece of cork (ideally from a wine bottle), and a small container (such as a glass) filled with water. Rub the needle with the magnet for a minute or two, always moving it in the same direction.

When the needle is magnetized, pierce a piece of cork through it so that it is in the middle of the needle. Let the cork with the needle float in a container of water, which must first be placed on a flat surface. The needle will immediately begin to search for the nearest magnetic pole, north or south, depending on where you have drifted, and point in its direction.

Inventive, although you just had to remember to take a compass with you. By the way, for the sake of a small piece of cork, you should not sentence a whole bottle of wine. Not only is this wasteful, but you will probably pierce your finger with a needle after it.

This text is an introductory piece. From the book 100 great inventions author Ryzhov Konstantin Vladislavovich

21. KOMPAS Compass, like paper, was invented by the Chinese in ancient times. In the III century BC. the Chinese philosopher Hen Fei-tzu described the device of the modern compass as follows: it looked like a pouring spoon made of magnetite with a thin handle and spherical, carefully

From the book Encyclopedia of educational games author Danilova Lena

Do-it-yourself educational games What can you not find on the shelves of toy stores now! It was in those distant times when we were children, in the "Children's World" for years there were the same dolls, cars and metal constructors with "cogs and tongues". And now

From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (AB) of the author TSB

From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (GI) of the author TSB

From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (KO) of the author TSB

From the book Tusovka decides everything. Secrets of entering professional communities author Ivanov Anton Evgenievich

DIY personal brand Look around: in today's world, in all areas of our lives, we encounter brands from various companies: Levi's, NOKIA, Microsoft, McDonalds and many others. There are also many brands of personalities: Bill Gates, Peter Drucker, Michael Jackson,

From the book Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions author Serov Vadim Vasilievich

Don't ask what your country can do for you. Ask yourself what you can do for her. A very often quoted expression in the United States,

From the book of Law category "F". Driving tutorial for women the author Shatskaya Evgenia

REPAIR WITH YOUR HANDS After reading the previous chapter, many readers probably wondered: is it really necessary to communicate with a car service? Is it possible to somehow manage without this, in mild cases on our own, of course, with the support of qualified

From the book 100 famous inventions author Pristinsky Vladislav Leonidovich

From the book Yachting: The Complete Guide author Toghill Jeff

Nautical compass The nautical compass works on the same principle as a normal tourist compass, where the needle always points north-south. The main difference between the two compasses is that the marine compass has several arrows attached to the card

From the book Flower Salon: Where to Start, How to Succeed author Krutov Dmitry Valerievich

From the book The Complete Encyclopedia of Housekeeping author Vasnetsova Elena Gennadievna

Do-it-yourself minor repairs In order for all engineering systems in the house to function normally, it is necessary to monitor them and engage in prevention. Despite this, problems do occur from time to time. But it is not always necessary to invite a specialist. With small

From the book Getting Ready for Retirement: Mastering the Internet author Akhmetzyanova Valentina Alexandrovna

Do-it-yourself candles Candles are an attribute of any holiday. In stores you can find candles of different colors, shapes and sizes. But, unfortunately, it is not always possible to find the “candle of your dreams”. In addition, you want the holiday decoration to be special. You can make your

From the book Wardrobes, hallways, slides, walls, shelves, chests of drawers and other prefabricated furniture author Podolsky Yuriy Fedorovich

From the book Who's Who in the World of Discoveries and Inventions author Sitnikov Vitaly Pavlovich

From the author's book

Who Invented the Compass? The simplest form of a compass is a magnetic needle mounted on a rod so that it can rotate freely in all directions. The arrow of such a primitive compass points to "north", which refers to the North magnetic pole of the Earth.

Do you urgently need to determine the direction, but there is no compass at hand? Learn how to make a compass at home, and make it from materials that are sure to be found in any home.

Compass made of thread and needle

Rub the tip of the needle with silk for a few minutes. Tie a thread to the needle and hang it by this thread. The end of the needle rubbed with a cloth will point to the north. This method can also be used in the field. It is much more reliable than folk signs allows you to determine the necessary direction.

needle and water device

To create a compass, you will need a needle, magnet, cork or styrofoam, and a non-metal bowl of water. First, process the needle. Attach a magnet to one end of it and leave for 10-20 minutes. The other end needs to be demagnetized. To do this, hold it over the flame of a lighter or match for a few seconds. If you can't find a magnet, look around your apartment carefully. You will almost certainly find a magnet on the refrigerator or on the cabinet door.

After the needle is processed, mark the magnetized end with any color and proceed to the construction of a home compass. Pour water into a bowl. Place the needle on the foam floating on the surface of the water. Place the bowl on a stable surface. You will see that the needle of your homemade compass turns, pointing north with its magnetized end.

Paperclip compass

Magnetize one end of the paperclip using any magnet or a piece of silk. Put a paper clip on a piece of paper, and lower this piece of paper on the surface of the water. It is important that the sheet used for the compass does not touch the edges of the bowl, and that there are no drafts and any air movement in the place where you are going to determine the cardinal points using a homemade device. The magnetized end of the paperclip will point north.

Blade and battery compass

If you're out in the field and don't have a magnet or silk cloth, you can build a compass out of a blade, battery, and wire. If you have a coil of insulated wire, then wind it around the blade, making 5-7 turns. If there is no insulation, then first wrap the blade with one layer of paper, and then wind the wire. Connect the wires to the battery by connecting one of them to the "plus" and the second to the "minus". The higher the battery voltage, the better, but not less than 2.

Leave this design for an hour, and then free the blade by disconnecting the wires. Put it on a leaf and lower it into the water. The part of the blade on which the last turn of wire was located, leading to the "minus", will turn to the north, and the side connected to the "plus" will turn to the south. The blade can be replaced with a needle or a paper clip. The main thing is that it should be a light metal object, by the shape of which you can understand where it points.

It happens that you need to know exactly which side is south and which is north. At home, this can be useful when tuning the antenna, and travelers cannot do without such knowledge, especially in the wild. Of course, the easiest way is to use a regular compass. But what if it is not at hand? How to make a compass at home and outdoors? It turns out it's very simple. You will not need special tools - only the materials at hand that every house has, or they are easy to get in the forest.

at home

1. In order to make an irreplaceable attribute of a tourist, you need a needle, a small piece of foam rubber and a mug of water. First you need to take foam rubber, about 3x3 centimeters. We will need it so that the needle stays on the water and does not sink. We pierce the foam rubber with a needle in the center and place a simple design in a mug of water.

2. In order for it to become a real compass, it remains to magnetize one tip of the needle. Finding a magnet in an apartment is very simple. It is in the headset that holds the doors or in the speaker of the music center. To demagnetize the needle, it is enough to bring one of its tips to the gas burner and hold it over the fire for 20 seconds. Thus, the magnetized tip of the needle will show us the north, the demagnetized tip will tell us where the south is. Again we place our design in water.

3. To understand where is north and where is south, stand facing in the direction of the needle. Remember which window the sun shines in in the morning (it will be east), respectively, the sun sets in the opposite direction - this is west. Now stand along the needle so that the east is on the left and the west is on the right. So you will find yourself facing south, and your back to the north.

How to make a compass outdoors

Sometimes when hiking, for example, in the forest, it is important to know the exact direction of the path so as not to get lost. It turns out that it is also easy to understand where the north is and where the south is, using improvised means. Consider two options for how to create your own compass in extreme conditions.

1. For the first option, you need to find something metallic. Any nail, wire or needle will do. To magnetize our arrow, just rub it against your hair. Next, the nails must be tied to a thread or fishing line and hung on a static surface (for example, a tree branch). It is important that the length of the thread is at least 40 centimeters, otherwise the result will be inaccurate. Now the arrow will accurately show the magnetized end to the north. You already know how to determine the rest of the directions.

2. For the second option, you need a bowl of water. We magnetize one end of the arrow and put it in a bowl, laying it on a piece of bark. The arrow will definitely tell you where the north is.

So, now you know how to make a compass in any situation. This procedure will not take much time, even in a modern apartment, even in a dense forest. It is enough to show a little ingenuity, find the right materials, create a simple device with your own hands, and you will always know exactly in which direction to move. Now you are not afraid of any troubles while traveling.

Which side is north? Show right now. If you can't, then find out where north is with a compass. Do you have a compass? Not? Don't worry - you can make your own DIY compass. In addition, you will learn how the compass works, and who knows how to determine the desired direction of the cardinal points without any compass.

To design a homemade compass you will need:

Needle

Separate magnet with north and south poles

bottle cap

Small bowl of water

Homemade compass is done as follows

1. Draw the north pole along the needle, from eye to tip, at least ten to twenty times. This is how you magnetize the needle.

2. Cut off a small piece from the end of the cork. About ten, twelve millimeters will be enough.

3. Pass the needle from the side of one circle to another.

4. Fill the bowl with water (up to half will be enough). Dip the cork with the needle into the water.

5. Set up your homemade compass on a flat surface and watch what happens. The end will point north.

How a homemade compass works

attract , steel and other magnets. A magnet has a south and a north pole, and the north pole of one magnet and the south pole of another magnet attract each other. rich in iron, so the Earth is a magnet, with north and south poles. The Earth's magnetic field is not strong enough to completely pull all other magnets to the south or north poles, but strong enough to turn them around.

Since the magnetized needle, inserted into the cork, floats on the water, it can freely rotate and turn in accordance with the magnetic poles of the Earth. This is the simplest homemade compass that can tell you where is north and where is south. If we put our homemade compass on a piece of cardboard, then after the needle points to the north, we can mark all cardinal directions on this cardboard. And then you will always know which side is north, south, west and east.

The South Pole is the only place on Earth where any direction points.

Who has their own internal compass?

They navigate in space using the sun as a magnet. And bats have a magnetic substance called magnetite in their bodies, which they use as an "internal compass" to help them navigate in space.