Situations in which it is necessary to determine the direction to the North and South Poles are extremely rare in everyday life. Nevertheless, it is useful to know some ways of finding north and south, especially since it is not difficult even without a compass.
Instructions
Step 1
In natural history lessons in elementary school, they talked about many ways to determine where is north and where is south without a compass. However, most remember only that on a detached tree, moss grows from the north side. Unfortunately, getting lost in the forest, for example, is very difficult to find a detached tree. In addition, the moss grows on it quite abundantly, and it will not be possible to determine the exact direction to the north. The same inaccurate methods include the location of anthills, lichens and the most dense branches.
Step 2
A more efficient way to accurately determine the cardinal points is available on a sunny day if you have a watch with hands. Hold them horizontally with the small hand (hour) pointing towards the sun. The South Pole will be in the middle of an acute angle between the hand and 12 o'clock on the dial. Accordingly, north will be on the opposite side.
Step 3
At night, you can use a method known from ancient times and determine the location of the North Pole by the stars. To find the North Star, look for the constellation Ursa Major (in the shape of a bucket) in the sky. Having drawn a straight line through the two rightmost stars of the constellation (forming the bucket wall), you will see the Polar Star, which is the end of the handle of the Ursa Minor bucket. The vertical line from the North Star to the horizon will give an idea of where north is.
Step 4
You can determine the magnetic poles using a magnet, a saucer of water, a piece of cork and an ordinary needle. Run the magnet along the needle several times (this will magnetize it), stick it into the cork and let it float in the water. Under the influence of magnetic forces, the needle will point one end to the North magnetic pole, and the other to the South. To understand which one is where, remember that the sun moves from east to west, that is, if you face north, then east should be on the right and west on the left.
