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Science & Tech

compass

navigational instrument

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Feb 27, 2024 • Article History

magnetic compass

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Category: Science & Tech

Key People:: James Watt; Gowin Knight

Related Topics:: gyrocompass; magnetic compass; solar compass; compass card; variation

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compass, in navigation or surveying, the primary device for direction-finding on the surface of the Earth. Compasses may operate on magnetic or gyroscopic principles or by determining the direction of the Sun or a star. The oldest and most familiar type of compass is the magnetic compass, which is used in different forms in aircraft, ships, and land vehicles and by surveyors. Sometime in the 12th century, mariners in China and Europe made the discovery, apparently independently, that a piece of lodestone, a naturally occurring magnetic ore, when floated on a stick in water, tends to align itself so as ...(100 of 882 words)

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