Who Invented the Compass? The most simple form 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.

How make a compass when in the field was lost or out of order regular compass?

This requires certain improvised materials, an understanding of the principle of operation of the device and a little ingenuity.

The principle of operation of the compass is based on the phenomenon that any magnet tends to be located along the lines of force magnetic field Earth. The lines of force are oriented from north to south. Therefore, the magnet will be oriented in the same direction. The compass needle is a small magnet.

To make a compass we need a magnetic needle and the ability to position it so that as few extraneous forces as possible prevent it from turning along the lines of force of the Earth's magnetic field.

Best of all, a linear magnet would act as a compass needle. And from improvised materials, steel is best magnetized

Therefore, it is best to make a compass using a sewing needle as a magnetic needle. You can use a pin, a piece steel wire, strings, for example, or other objects made of steel. Any small steel strip can also work - a regular razor blade, for example, or half of it.

How to make a compass using a needle.

To make a compass using a needle as an arrow, it must be magnetized. To do this, you need to rub it on a magnet or stick it to it for a few minutes.

You can use a magnet from the speaker of the radio, audio player or from headphones to them.

And how to make a compass when there is no magnet?

For magnetization, in this case, you can make an electromagnet using a battery and a piece of thin wire.

Wrapping the needle with some insulating material, paper or cloth, for example, we wind as many turns of wire as possible around it, creating an electromagnet winding.

We connect the ends of the wire to the battery terminals.

Moreover, it is important to know that the end of the needle to which the end of the wire connected to the negative terminal of the battery approaches the north will point.

What if we don't have a magnet or a battery?

Then you can magnetize the needle if you rub it intensively on a silk or woolen fabric.

Or about your own hair. (About it original way More details in the video at the end of the article).

The needle is magnetized, also, if one of its ends is heated red-hot over a fire, cooled in air, and the other end is rubbed between the fingers.

To make a compass, you need to ensure that the needle floats on the surface of the water - in a puddle or in a container of water. The container must be made of non-magnetic material, and there should not be objects made of iron or power lines nearby.

Sometimes the needle floats on the surface due to forces surface tension. But it is easier to make it swim by smearing it with some kind of fat.

You can also put it on any floating object - a piece of paper, a piece of wood, a piece of bark, cork or foam. Or stick it in a straw.

If the conditions are correctly observed, the needle will be located in the north-south direction.

If we do not know which end of it points to the north, we can navigate by

Let's think about how to make a compass when there is no water in which an impromptu arrow would float.

In this case, you can make a compass by hanging a needle or, for example, a razor blade on a thread, tying it to the center of gravity. The thread must be of sufficient length and must allow the "arrow" to turn freely.

If the wind and iron objects do not interfere nearby, then it will be located in the north-south direction.

In cases where the compass is out of order, it is important to save its arrow. Having planted it on a needle, a thorn or, in extreme cases, on a fish bone, we can always determine the direction to the north.

To make a compass, which can be transferred, it is enough to make a case for it from available improvised materials.

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

• Needle

Assembling a homemade compass

Do-it-yourself compass without the use of liquid

• Transparent bottle
• Fine thread or fishing line

And you are still waiting interesting video from the network on our topic:

How to make a compass with your own hands?

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 won't need special devices- only improvised materials that every house has, or they are easy to get in the forest.

How to make a compass 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. Foam rubber is pierced with a needle in the center and placed 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 kitchen cabinet, or in the dynamics of the music center. To demagnetize the needle, it is enough to bring one of its tips to gas burner and hold 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 of the parts of the world.

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 conditions modern apartment, even in a dense forest. It just takes a little ingenuity to find suitable 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.

How to make a compass?

There are different situations when a compass may be needed: get lost in the forest, determine north-south in an apartment, put furniture according to Feng Shui. But, as always, in right moment, "at hand" is not something important, in this case a compass. What to do? Make it up yourself. Below we will tell you how to make a compass and what you need for this.

Making a compass at home

You can make two types of compasses - on the water and on a string.

For the first option, we need: a needle, a magnet, foam plastic, a wide glass container with water (deep plate).

• With a magnet we draw along one of the tips of the needle, 20-30 times in one direction. So we magnetize it.
• Making a compass needle. We insert the needle into the foam so that both ends of it peek out of it. At the same time, our arrow should stay evenly on the water, without turning over, that is, we must clearly find and establish the center of gravity.
• We lower the arrow into a container of water. It will start spinning and after a while it will stop, the magnetized end will point to the north.

For the second option, we need a magnet, a needle, thread, tape, a piece of paper, a pencil, scissors and a glass container (a 3 liter jar will do).

• Magnetize one end of the needle.
• Insert a needle into a piece of paper.
• We glue the thread to the paper, with adhesive tape, we fix the second end of the thread on a pencil. Equalize the center of gravity of our arrow.
• We lower the arrow into the jar, and put the pencil on the support (the neck of the jar).
• The "arrow" will begin to spin, and the magnetized tip of the needle will point north.

Now you know how to make a compass with your own hands at home.

For this we will use improvised materials. Of course, it is advisable to go hiking, hunting, picking mushrooms to put a wire or a nail, a piece of thread and a magnet in your pocket, but if one of these is missing, it does not matter. We propose to consider two options for creating compasses in extreme conditions.

First: we need something small, metal. It can be a needle, a piece of wire or a nail. Now we need to magnetize one of its ends, how to make a detail in a compass, the most important one - an arrow, if there is no magnet? You can magnetize a metal object by friction. Rub it on your hair or woolen clothes. Now we tie a thread to our arrow. Be sure to find the center of gravity and balance the wire, otherwise the result will be incorrect. The length of the thread must be at least 40cm. We take the second edge in our hands or tie it to a stick and install it on a support. After our arrow spins and balances, the magnetized edge will accurately point north.

For the second option, we need a hole with water or a bowl. We magnetize one end of our "arrow". We take a leaf of a tree or a piece of bark and put it there. We lower it all into a puddle and look where the tip of the arrow points. There will be north.

As you can see, making a compass is not difficult in any situation, you just need to be smart. You can experiment at home first. If something is wrong, we type in the search engine: how to make a compass - video, and watch. Now, for sure, there are no more questions.

The magnetic compass is a strategically important thing in camping trip and even more so in emergency situations. That is why you need to know how to make a homemade compass in the wild, for example, in the forest, using only improvised materials: you can never be sure that all the necessary equipment will be at hand in difficult times.

The simplest compass made from improvised materials - here the needle plays the role of an arrow, and the cork and water are needed so that the “arrow” itself experiences practically no resistance.

The Internet and some survival textbooks describe how to create a homemade compass, however, a careful analysis of this information revealed many inaccuracies, misconceptions and outright stupidity in them. Therefore, I propose to consider not only how a compass can be made, but also to understand the many misconceptions associated with this very popular topic.

How to make a homemade compass

Speaking about the design of a homemade compass, one could simply give an algorithm for its creation and end there. However, it seems to me that despite the simplicity of this approach, this limits the reader in diversity and makes him look at the issue narrowly, excluding the possibility of improvisation in a situation where it becomes necessary to make a compass with his own hands.

In this regard, I propose to consider not a specific algorithm for creating a compass, but its stages, which could be discussed in more detail, understanding their essence and subtleties, and thereby fully revealing their potential.

So, the whole process of creating a compass is divided into several stages:

1. At the very beginning, a search is made for an object that will act as an arrow.
2. At the second stage, the magnetization of this object occurs.
3. The homemade compass needle is then provided with conditions of least friction so that it can turn along the Earth's magnetic field lines and point to magnetic north and south.

If necessary, for the correct operation of the arrow, wind protection is used, because you will most likely have to work with such a compass not at home, but in nature, where windy weather is the norm.

By the way, one of the first compasses that appeared in Europe was a magnetized needle floating on a cork in a vessel with water.

compass needle material

To create a primitive means of navigation, which is a magnetic compass, you need to have an object made of a ferromagnet - a material that is capable of possessing magnetic properties in the absence of an external magnetic field. Such material is easy to identify by bringing it to permanent magnet- ferromagnets will be easily magnetized.

In fact, diamagnets can also interact with a magnetic field, but for this you need to create a very strong magnetic field. For example, there is a well-known experiment where a frog levitates in a magnetic field. It is shown in the video:

The well-known "household" ferromagnets are mainly products made of iron and its alloys. Items such as a nail, a steel knife and scissors, a safety pin, a sewing needle, and a fishhook are all ferromagnetic products, and all of them are suitable for a homemade arrow.

The most convenient of them will be those that have a smaller mass and size. This will become quite obvious when we consider the following steps.

However, in the absence of a miniature "arrow", it is quite possible to use more cumbersome options.

Considering the subsequent steps, for example, imagine that a sewing needle was chosen as a magnetic needle - the most popular version of the arrow for a homemade compass.

Magnetization of an impromptu arrow

In order for the needle - the future compass needle - to turn in the Earth's magnetic field, it must be magnetized.

Often, ferromagnetic objects used as an arrow may already be magnetized.

It seems to me that most of the misconceptions are connected with this, where people believe that they were able to magnetize an object, using methods that are actually completely unsuitable for this. For example, they try to magnetize a needle by rubbing it against their hair. In other words, in this case there is an error in determining cause-and-effect relationships.

In the field, checking whether an object is magnetized or not is quite simple: you need to make a compass out of it and see if the arrow turns. How exactly this is done, we will tell further.

In this case, after the “arrow” has completely stopped, turn it either in one direction or in the other. If such an arrow constantly returns to the same position, then it is magnetized and it is not necessary to additionally magnetize it. By the way, the serviceability of a compass made in production is checked in the same way.

If the arrow was not magnetized, then it can be magnetized in two ways.

Method number 1 - using a magnet. This is the easiest and fastest way.

To do this, just put the arrow next to the magnet. In the wild, it is often suggested that you remove the magnet from the speakers of your headphones or phone. However, as for me, this is irrational: the phone can still come in handy. Everything is much simpler: it is enough to put the arrow on the phone itself or the walkie-talkie so that it becomes magnetized, but it is even easier to put it on a steel knife, which, as a rule, has magnetic properties.

It is not necessary to keep the arrow near such a magnet for a long time: usually a few seconds are enough.

The determination of the sides of an impromptu arrow occurs empirically by the stars or the Sun. That is, the cardinal points are determined by the luminaries, and then it is determined which part of the arrow points where. And we talked about how to determine the cardinal points by the Sun and stars here (Orientation by the Sun) and here (Orientation by the North Star).

Method number 2 - using a coil and current. This method is more complicated and requires an insulated wire and a current source.

In this method, around the needle in the form of a coil in one layer is wound insulated wire. If the wire turned out to be bare, then the needle can be covered with dry toilet paper or a piece of polyethylene to isolate it from contact with the wire, and make the turns so that they do not touch each other.

passed through the coil electricity, as a result of which a magnetic field arises inside the coil, and the needle becomes the core of this electromagnet.

Where to get electricity for this method? It's simple: most often, a battery from a flashlight or a battery from a phone acts as a power source in the wild, although there are other sources. The main thing is that the current is constant, not variable, that is, an outlet without additional circuits that equalize the electric current will not work for this.

To determine which side of the needle is pointing north, you can use the method proposed in the first method. However, there is another option.

To do this, you need to remember physics and the gimlet rule. In relation to this case, focusing on this rule, we can say that the gimlet will move in the direction where the improvised arrow will have the northern end. It is this end of the arrow that will point in the direction of the north magnetic pole of the Earth.

Now that the main part of the work has been done, the only thing left to do is to allow the arrow to rotate freely. To do this, you need to fix it correctly.

How to fix an arrow in a compass

In fact, unlike factory models, it is not at all necessary to fasten the arrow in some special way. Usually, to reduce friction, the needle is either placed on water or hung on a thin thread or fishing line. But there are some nuances here, which we will talk about.

For the water option, you can use a puddle or other natural body of water. But in the second case, there is a danger of losing the needle due to its drowning.

Also good options are containers, such as a plastic plate or an aluminum pot, into which water can be poured and a needle lowered onto it. In this case, it is important to ensure that the dishes do not have ferromagnetic parts. For example, a bowler hat may have steel handles that cause changes in the readings of a homemade compass.

The photo below shows a disposable plastic plate of water, in which a needle floats, fixed on a piece of waterproof fabric - this is the compass of their improvised materials:

A good option for a "water" compass is polyethylene placed in a recess in the ground or sand and filled with water.

It is also worth making sure that the surface of the water remains clean, because a film formed by any substances or microscopic living organisms can also greatly affect the operation of a homemade compass, preventing the arrow from rotating.

If the needle is very small and, accordingly, light, then it can be slowly put on the water - and it will remain afloat due to surface tension forces. To do this, it is important that before the needle enters the water, its surface remains dry.

However, to keep the gypsy needle on the water in this way will not work because of its large mass. Therefore, such a needle can be placed on a leaf of a tree or shrub, or it can be inserted into a hollow, dry stem of some plant that has sufficient buoyancy to keep the needle on the surface of the water.

Also, a piece of foam can serve as a watercraft for the needle, plastic stopper from a bottle and many other light materials that do not cause magnetic deviations, which we described in detail here (Magnetic compass).

It is important that during measurements the needle on the “boat” does not touch the walls of the vessel or the “shores” of the puddle, since in this case friction will not allow the needle to rotate freely.

Thus, thanks to the water, it is possible to achieve the least resistance, and the needle itself turns and points to the north and south, even when it is weakly magnetized.

If you plan to hang the needle on a thread, then a simple running knot can be made on the thread, which, under the weight of the needle, will be additionally tightened, preventing it from slipping much. At the same time, you need to hang the needle approximately in the middle with a slight offset towards the eye, that is, the heavier part. The exact place where the thread is attached to the needle is chosen empirically.

By the way, instead of a thread or fishing line, a long human hair is quite suitable. I was able to achieve good results using this particular material. The video shows how to do it:

In order for the needle to slip out of the loop less, I wrapped it in two or three layers toilet paper. In addition, due to the windage, this option allows the arrow to “calm down” faster, which significantly speeds up the work with the compass.

It is very important for this option to use as thin and long a thread or fishing line as possible, since only in this case it will be possible to sufficiently minimize the effect of twisting of the material, which can cause a large measurement error.

Of these two, the water option can rightfully be called the best, since it is he who gives the minimum errors and allows the impromptu arrow to quickly stabilize.

So we examined the device of the simplest magnetic compass. However, in this version, the compass will be able to work mainly only at home: in nature, the design of a home-made compass will have to be supplemented with a windscreen. This is especially important for a compass using hanging circuit arrow attachments.

Wind protection

Most often, a plastic transparent bottle cut in the middle is offered as a windscreen. This option, as for me, is not very convenient for either the "water" or the "filament" compass. In the first case, it will be difficult to keep the needle in the center of the volume, and it may come into contact with the walls, which, as we remember, leads to measurement errors. In the second case, due to a too short thread, forces associated with the resistance of the thread to twisting will act on the needle, which will also negatively affect the readings.

As a windscreen, I personally would suggest natural shelters combined with additional protection from the wind with your own body. Also, an aluminum pot does an excellent job of this, representing both a container for water and protection from the wind. However, this option is effective only for the "water" compass. For a needle on a thread, you can use a karimat by twisting it into a tube and placing it vertically: this way you get good protection from the wind with a sufficiently long thread to which the needle is suspended.

If karimata, polyethylene or other materials for creating an artificial windscreen are not available, the area does not have natural shelters, and the weather leaves much to be desired, then you need to use what is available, or wait until the weather calms down or clears up to move on to orienteering methods by heavenly lights.

And now, as promised, we will analyze the most common misconceptions related to this topic.

Misconceptions and their rebuttals

I chose as the source of the most popular misconceptions famous book on survival "A book that will save your life" by no less famous Soviet extreme tourist Andrey Alexandrovich Ilyin. Who knows, perhaps it was she who caused the myths that spread and entrenched in the minds of people.

So, let's look at the "magnificent seven" of the most common myths associated with the construction of a homemade compass.

Misconception No. 1. When building a homemade magnetic compass, you can use a needle as an axis for the arrow, which must be inserted into the base of the compass with the eye down.

Rebuttal: the design of the compass should not contain ferromagnetic elements, except for the arrow itself. Otherwise, there are distortions in the compass readings associated with magnetic deviations.

Misconception No. 2. In order to magnetize a needle located in a coil through which an electric current flows, you need to spend at least 10 minutes.

Rebuttal: experience has shown that a time of no more than 5-10 seconds is enough to magnetize the needle in this way. At the same time, in order to remagnetize the needle and change its poles to the opposite ones, no more than 10 seconds are also enough. Spending extra time is not only useless, but also harmful, because in addition to temporary losses, the power source is discharged, which could be suitable for other purposes, for example, for lighting a fire.

Misconception No. 3. The north end of the magnetized electric coil needle will be the end from which the negative terminal of the battery was connected.

Rebuttal: The north end of the needle is determined by the gimlet rule, also known as the gimlet rule. right hand. And according to this rule, the northern end will not always be the one from which the negative terminal was connected: here the direction of the winding turns will also play a role.

Misconception No. 4. In order for the needle to lie on the water, held by surface tension forces, it must be rubbed against the hair or between the fingers.

Rebuttal: even a needle completely degreased with ethanol will be held on the surface of the water. If its mass is too large for this, as in the case of a gypsy needle, then no friction on the hair and skin will help the cause.

Misconception No. 5. Metal containers cannot be used for a homemade compass.

Rebuttal: the point is not whether the utensils are metal, but whether the material from which the utensils are made is a ferromagnet. Thus, metal utensils can also be used. For example, neither aluminum, nor magnesium, nor copper, which in essence are not ferromagnets, but para- and diamagnets, will affect the accuracy of measurements of a homemade compass.

Misconception #6: You can't use salt water.

Rebuttal: the presence of salt in water does not have a noticeable effect on the readings of a homemade compass. It is also easy to verify this for yourself by conducting your own experiment with salt water and a magnetized needle.

It is also worth talking about another very common misconception that is not directly related to the mentioned book, but is firmly rooted in the minds of many tourists and preppers.

Misconception No. 7. You can magnetize a needle by rubbing it against your hair or woolen product.

Rebuttal: it will not work to magnetize a metal needle in this way, which can be easily verified by experiment.

Other types of homemade compasses

Of course, in addition to the magnetic compass, you can make other types of compasses yourself. For example, on the Internet you can find diagrams and instructions for making digital and electronic compasses.

However, such designs require "straight" arms and special parts. And if a person can be fine with straight arms, then details, such as a magnetometer, are unlikely to be found in the wild.

It is convenient to make such compasses at home with all the necessary parts and tools, but not on a hike, and even more so not in emergency conditions. Here, the simple model of a magnetic compass, which has been tested for centuries, comes first, on which we have focused.

Summarizing all of the above, it can be argued that the easiest model of a homemade compass to perform and use will be a sewing needle or a fishhook, magnetized from contact with a knife and lowered onto water surface. It is this option that will give the most accurate and “fastest” readings, including due to the fact that it is much easier to protect such a structure from the wind than in the case of a hanging arrow. And repair, as such, is not required for such a compass, because there is nothing to break here.

If you wish, you can try to supply a homemade compass with a scale, but I don’t see much point in this, because approximate angles can be determined without special scales and tools.

The idea can also be adopted before each campaign to magnetize needles and hooks, which will be taken with them among the repair kit, fishing tackle and NAZ. To do this, it is enough to put them on a permanent magnet for a few seconds. Such simple actions will help to give the needles and hooks another function, and the versatility of equipment is one of the fundamental principles of completing a backpack for long hikes.

However, you need to understand that a home-made compass is only an extreme measure: it is very inconvenient to use compared to the "real" one produced at the factory. That's why the right choice will buy a ready-made compass, and leave the magnetized needles and hooks only as a last resort, when trouble was taken by surprise, and the purchased compass was not nearby.

We will need:

Any container, except for a metal one, filled with water (metal ones will not work, as they will distort the magnetic field).

In order to make a compass, we take a floating material and cut out a platform for a needle from it. The main parameters of the piece are the smaller the better, but the needle should not be above the surface of the water.

As you already understood, the needle acts as an arrow. In order to use our homemade compass to determine the cardinal points, one end of the needle must be magnetized. 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. 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 (if the float is voluminous). Such fastening is simple and at the same time reliable. Next, place the float with a needle in a container of water so that they do not touch the walls of the vessel. The do-it-yourself 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.

Sometimes, apart from a needle, there is no floating material at hand. In this case, to make a compass, you can pick off any leaf that can keep the needle above the water. Again, the smaller it is, the better.

I made a similar compass, but at home.

one). The sharp end of the sewing needle is rubbed on a magnet.

2). I pierced a wide cork from a bottle (possibly from a thermos) with a needle so that it came out from the sides, and not from the ends of the cork.

3). I lowered the cork with a needle into a container of water so that it did not touch the walls of the container.

In the forest, you can use a puddle of water.

The cork became a kind of float in the water and it turned out that the sharp end of the needle began to point to the north.

I also tried to do this without using water and a magnet.

one). The sharp end of the needle is rubbed against artificial fabric from clothes that have static.

2). I tied a thread to the center of the needle so that the needle hung evenly - none of the ends outweighed the other.

3). I lowered the thread with the needle into the jar (there may be wind on the street).

The result is the same - the sharp end of the needle began to point to the north.

In an emergency, you can navigate the terrain without a compass. For example:

On a clear night, by the stars (polar star for the northern hemisphere, southern cross for the southern hemisphere).

Moss grows on tree trunks, stumps, stones on the north side.

The crown of trees is more magnificent on the south side.

Snow in the spring does not melt for a long time on the northern side of the slopes of ravines, trees, large stones, and any objects that create a shadow.

By using wrist watch with arrows on a sunny day. Point the hour hand towards the sun. Divide the angle formed between the hour hand and the number 1 in half and this line will be the indicator of the direction to the South. The only condition is that this angle must be less than 90 degrees.

And of course, you can build a primitive compass from improvised materials. To make it, you will need a steel object (a sewing needle, a nail, a screw or a piece of wire) and any floating object in the water into which you can stick or attach an object made of steel (a piece of foam, a piece of cardboard paper or torn from a tree, a cork cork from bottles of wine or a thermos, a sliver and finally a container of water (not steel) in which you need to place a steel object attached to a floating object in such a way that they do not sink together. in that steel objects have a weak magnetization from the earth's magnetic field, sufficient to be used as a primitive compass.The only difficulty that may arise is which end points to the North and which one to the South.Only the Sun can help in this matter during the day, at night - the stars or the moon.

A small steel needle can be made to float on the surface of the water on its own. To do this, you need to rub it a little with your fingers (the fatter the fingers, the better) and carefully place it on the surface of the water. With due care in performing this procedure, it will float held by the forces of surface tension of water.



Children's compass shows that the point of the needle is directed towards the South. No manipulations were made with the needle (such as magnetizing with a magnet or heating the tip).

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 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 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 interesting solutions, and if you dig deeper, it becomes obvious that we have replenished our treasury of knowledge extremely useful information! Good luck with your travels, friends.

We will need:

Any container, except for a metal one, filled with water (metal ones will not work, as they will distort the magnetic field).

In order to make a compass, we take a floating material and cut out a platform for a needle from it. The main parameters of the piece are the smaller the better, but the needle should not be above the surface of the water.

As you already understood, the needle acts as an arrow. In order to use our homemade compass to determine the cardinal points, one end of the needle must be magnetized. 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. 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 (if the float is voluminous). Such fastening is simple and at the same time reliable. Next, place the float with a needle in a container of water so that they do not touch the walls of the vessel. The do-it-yourself 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.

Sometimes, apart from a needle, there is no floating material at hand. In this case, to make a compass, you can pick off any leaf that can keep the needle above the water. Again, the smaller it is, the better.

I made a similar compass, but at home.

one). The sharp end of the sewing needle is rubbed on a magnet.

2). I pierced a wide cork from a bottle (possibly from a thermos) with a needle so that it came out from the sides, and not from the ends of the cork.

3). I lowered the cork with a needle into a container of water so that it did not touch the walls of the container.

In the forest, you can use a puddle of water.

The cork became a kind of float in the water and it turned out that the sharp end of the needle began to point to the north.

I also tried to do this without using water and a magnet.

one). The sharp end of the needle is rubbed against artificial fabric from clothes that have static.

2). I tied a thread to the center of the needle so that the needle hung evenly - none of the ends outweighed the other.

3). I lowered the thread with the needle into the jar (there may be wind on the street).

The result is the same - the sharp end of the needle began to point to the north.

In an emergency, you can navigate the terrain without a compass. For example:

On a clear night, by the stars (polar star for the northern hemisphere, southern cross for the southern hemisphere).

Moss grows on tree trunks, stumps, stones on the north side.

The crown of trees is more magnificent on the south side.

Snow in the spring does not melt for a long time on the northern side of the slopes of ravines, trees, large stones, and any objects that create a shadow.

Using a wrist watch with arrows on a sunny day. Point the hour hand towards the sun. Divide the angle formed between the hour hand and the number 1 in half and this line will be the indicator of the direction to the South. The only condition is that this angle must be less than 90 degrees.

And of course, you can build a primitive compass from improvised materials. To make it, you will need a steel object (a sewing needle, a nail, a screw or a piece of wire) and any floating object in the water into which you can stick or attach an object made of steel (a piece of foam, a piece of cardboard paper or torn from a tree, a cork cork from bottles of wine or a thermos, a sliver and finally a container of water (not steel) in which you need to place a steel object attached to a floating object in such a way that they do not sink together. in the fact that steel objects have a weak magnetization from the earth's magnetic field, sufficient to be used as a primitive compass. The only difficulty that may arise is which end points to the North and which one to the South. In this matter, only the Sun can help during the day, at night - the stars or the moon.

A small steel needle can be made to float on the surface of the water on its own. To do this, you need to rub it a little with your fingers (the fatter the fingers, the better) and carefully place it on the surface of the water. With due care in performing this procedure, it will float held by the forces of surface tension of water.



Children's compass shows that the point of the needle is directed towards the South. No manipulations were made with the needle (such as magnetizing with a magnet or heating the tip).

02.09.2019

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

• 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 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

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

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 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:

How to make a compass with your own hands?

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.

How to make a compass 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 of the kitchen cabinet, or in the dynamics 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 of the parts of the world.

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 suitable 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.

How to make a compass?

Making a compass at home

Based on the materials of the network (where I found it, I don’t remember. - Chesslovo! But I thank the author, my notes)
It was not in vain that I placed this idea in the section for hunters and fishermen, if you like to travel, like to pick mushrooms or berries in the forest, then you simply need a compass, because without it it is very easy to get lost. Of course, you can buy a compass in a store, but I suggest making it yourself, try it and see how easy it is.
First of all, you need a round box, preferably with a lid. Use a metal box, such as shoe polish. Anneal the iron box - glow red hot in the oven or on the stove and let it cool slowly. Then remove the scale from it and paint with nitro paint. On the inner diameter of the box, use a compass to draw the bottom on the cardboard. Cut it out and make a hole with a diameter of 2 mm with smooth edges, into which fasten an ordinary underwear button so that blind hole button nipple was at the top.

According to figure 4, make from thick paper compass card; color it with watercolors and cut it out. Glue the potato to the prepared bottom, and place the bottom in the box. Make the side also out of cardboard and, after smearing it with glue, place it tightly in the jar, pressing the card to the bottom of the jar.

The rim should be 5-6 mm below the top edge of the jar or whisk. Then, along the diameter of the jar, cut out a circle from thin plexiglass - compass glazing; make a hole in the center of the circle and fasten the second underwear button to it so that the blind hole of the button is at the bottom. Instead of plexiglass, you can take any transparent film or use photographic film, after washing off the emulsion from it.
Having installed the glazing on the side, fix it from above with a spring ring, which is made of steel wire. Linen buttons installed on the bottom and glazing serve as thrust bearings in which the axis with the compass needle will turn.

The assembly of the compass parts is shown in Figure 5. Based on the height of your box, determine the height of the arrow axis. Make the axle from a wire that could rotate freely in thrust bearings. Carefully file the ends of the axis with a file and grind with a block for the point of knives.

Transfer the arrow to tin, cut it out, put it on a plank, place an awl in the center of the arrow and, lightly hitting the awl with a hammer, punch a hole for the axle so that the axle fits snugly into the hole of the arrow. Take the axis with the arrow in your fingers and, holding it slightly, check if the arrow is balanced.

If any end of the arrow outweighs, then file it with a file. After the arrow is balanced, it must be removed and magnetized. First, at one end of the arrow, scratch the letter N with the tip of the awl, then take the magnet (Fig. 2) and draw its south pole (it is colored red) several times from the middle of the arrow to its end with a mark. Then the north pole (it is colored in Blue colour) do the same with the other end. And so repeat several times.

For magnetization, you can use magnets from the speakers of old receivers, tape recorders or televisions. They have the shape of a ring, so first this ring must be carefully broken with a hammer and a chisel into several parts.

Now set the arrow on the axis, and by holding the axis vertically in your fingers, you will see how it immediately takes a certain position. No matter how you change the position of the arrow, it will take the same direction. The end of the arrow, which is marked with the letter N, will always be directed to the north, and the other - to the south. And now install the axis in the bearings - and the compass is ready. That's all.

How to make a compass?

There are different situations when a compass may be needed: get lost in the forest, determine north-south in an apartment, put furniture according to Feng Shui. But, as always, at the right moment, "at hand" is not something important, in this case, a compass. What to do? Make it up yourself. Below we will tell you how to make a compass and what you need for this.

Making a compass at home

You can make two types of compasses - on the water and on a string.

For the first option, we need: a needle, a magnet, foam plastic, a wide glass container with water (deep plate).

• With a magnet we draw along one of the tips of the needle, 20-30 times in one direction. So we magnetize it.
• Making a compass needle. We insert the needle into the foam so that both ends of it peek out of it. At the same time, our arrow should stay evenly on the water, without turning over, that is, we must clearly find and establish the center of gravity.
• We lower the arrow into a container of water. It will start spinning and after a while it will stop, the magnetized end will point to the north.

For the second option, we need a magnet, a needle, thread, tape, a piece of paper, a pencil, scissors and a glass container (a 3 liter jar will do).

• Magnetize one end of the needle.
• Insert a needle into a piece of paper.
• We glue the thread to the paper, with adhesive tape, we fix the second end of the thread on a pencil. Equalize the center of gravity of our arrow.
• We lower the arrow into the jar, and put the pencil on the support (the neck of the jar).
• The "arrow" will begin to spin, and the magnetized tip of the needle will point north.

Now you know how to make a compass with your own hands at home.

Making a compass in nature

For this we will use improvised materials. Of course, it is advisable to go hiking, hunting, picking mushrooms to put a wire or a nail, a piece of thread and a magnet in your pocket, but if one of these is missing, it does not matter. We propose to consider two options for creating compasses in extreme conditions.

First: we need something small, metal. It can be a needle, a piece of wire or a nail. Now we need to magnetize one of its ends, how to make a detail in a compass, the most important one - an arrow, if there is no magnet? You can magnetize a metal object by friction. Rub it on your hair or woolen clothes. Now we tie a thread to our arrow. Be sure to find the center of gravity and balance the wire, otherwise the result will be incorrect. The length of the thread must be at least 40cm. We take the second edge in our hands or tie it to a stick and install it on a support. After our arrow spins and balances, the magnetized edge will accurately point north.

For the second option, we need a hole with water or a bowl. We magnetize one end of our "arrow". We take a leaf of a tree or a piece of bark and put it there. We lower it all into a puddle and look where the tip of the arrow points. There will be north.

As you can see, making a compass is not difficult in any situation, you just need to be smart. You can experiment at home first. If something is wrong, we type in the search engine: how to make a compass - video, and watch. Now, for sure, there are no more questions.

The easiest way is to fasten the compass needle on the tip of a vertically set needle and wait until it unfolds in the north-south line. But in this case it will be very difficult to navigate in a degree reading. Therefore, it is desirable to preserve not only the needle of a compass that has become unusable, but also a scale that can be attached to a flat piece of bark or foam using thread or resin. In the center of an impromptu compass, with the eye down, you need to stick a small needle or a sharp, dry fish bone, on which to put an arrow. The main inconvenience of such a compass is that after each use the arrow has to be removed from the axis and securely hidden.

To use the compass all the time, you need work surface cover with protective glass. To do this, cut a recess in the bark or foam plastic, with a diameter exceeding the length of the arrow by 1-2 mm so that the arrow mounted on the axis is 0.5-1 mm below the cutoff of the scale. This is necessary so that the arrow, on the one hand, does not cling to the scale during rotation, on the other hand, it is not slowed down by the protective glass that pressed it from above. The working plane is closed with a fragment of any glass planted on resin, or is tightened with a piece of transparent polyethylene film, which is fixed on the edge of the compass with a circular thread or elastic band.

The film will protect the compass from water, wind and at the same time will not allow the arrow to jump off the axis. The role of a brake can be performed by a thread or a thin elastic band stretched over the film, and a piece of cork, foam plastic, bark, elastic band placed under it, resting against the center of the arrow.

Steel needles and pins can help you navigate in the cardinal directions. To do this, before the trip, all needles and pins should be magnetized, sticking for several tens of minutes to any available magnet, and, after checking with a working compass, mark the northern end with paint. In emergency conditions, you can use a magnet for this purpose, located in the speaker of any portable receiver, in the headphones of an audio player, or try to magnetize the needle with electricity.

To do this, you must have a power source (battery, accumulator, solar battery from a powerful calculator or other portable electronic device, a bug flashlight, etc.) with a voltage of at least 2 V (some sources indicate 6 V), as well as a piece of wire in isolation. Great care must be taken when working with lacquer insulation, as it is easily damaged. If the wire is bare, then the needle should be wrapped in several layers of dry paper, plastic wrap or other insulating material before magnetization.

The wire is wound in turns around the needle and attached to the battery terminals for several (preferably at least 10) minutes. In this case, you must try to have as many turns as possible. The north end of the magnetized needle will be where the wire from the negative battery terminal goes. In case of doubt, the northern end of the arrow can be determined by checking it against the North Star.

If necessary, it is enough to rub a magnetized needle or a “sting” of a broken pin between your fingers or on your hair and carefully place it on the surface of calm water. Restrained by surface tension forces, the needle will gradually turn in a north-south line. If the needle sinks, it must be additionally rubbed with any food or technical fat and lowered to the surface of the water on two thread loops.

Thicker needles and pins to give them additional buoyancy can be stuck in a piece of cork, bark, foam, straw or two or three matches and also lowered into the water. You can stick the needle completely into the straw, after remembering where the northern end is looking. Finally, you can carefully lay it on a piece of paper or a leaf of wood floating on the surface of the water, or simply hang it on a thin thread, tighten it with a small loop at the balance point, or stick it into a knot tied at the end in advance.

Remember that the containers used for water in such primitive compasses should not be made of metal, but of glass, plastic, wood, or similar non-magnetic materials. The proximity of the metal distorts the readings of the magnetic needle! And the water itself must be unsalted!

In addition to needles and pins, as a compass arrow, you can use a safety razor blade (or half of it), pre-magnetized and suspended with a thin thread or stuck into the bark of a tree floating on the surface of the water. The thread on which the blade will hang should be used only single, since a double thread, passed through the central hole and held at both ends, will prevent the blade from turning freely!

In emergency conditions, razor blades can be magnetized using magnets in the speakers and headphones of radio receivers and radio tape recorders using the electrical method described above. In extreme cases, you need to put the blade perpendicular to the open palm and draw the tip back and forth several times over the skin. Or in the same way on the hair. True, such electrostatic magnetization does not last very long. And its strength is not so great as to deploy a cork float on the water. But to scroll on a thread, it is enough.

Working with razor blades is complicated by the fact that, unlike needles, they have a significant area and therefore react very sensitively to any breath of wind, any movement and even human breathing. Unless the magnetic blade is completely at rest in a place protected from drafts, it is impossible to expect a reliable measurement result from it! Therefore, it is better to hang it in glass jar or plastic bottle with a cut-off neck, or stretched on pegs in the upside down position plastic bag, passing a thread inside it through a small hole cut in the bottom.

For more accurate measurements from a piece of bark or soft wood you can try to make a homemade "liquid" compass. To do this, as described earlier, cut out a container - a recess in the shape of a regular circle, in the center of which stick an axis. Cut out a degree scale around the circumference of the “glass” of the compass or stick a scale drawn on paper, cardboard, fabric. For ease of execution, it is better to divide the scale into larger points. Pour water into the “glass” of the compass, on the surface of which, slightly pricked onto the axis, lower a piece of bark, cork, foam plastic with a magnetic needle stuck into it.

In the absence of a compass and the complete impossibility of its manufacture, one should turn to astronomical methods for determining the cardinal points, for example, by the stars.