Already in ancient times, people learned to determine their position in space, focusing on the four sides of the horizon. It is known that the points of contact of the sun with the horizon during sunrise and sunset show the directions to the east and west, the south is determined by the position of the sun at its zenith, and the north is opposite to the south. The altars of the Trypillian culture of the 6th-3rd millennia BC were already oriented along these four directions. e. You can also determine the direction by the position of the stars; in addition, there are enough signs and pointers based on observations of nature. But how to navigate, for example, on a cloudy day at sea or in the desert, where there are no trees or anthills?
In this case, it is impossible to do without a compass, a device for orientation relative to the sides of the horizon, which indicates the direction of the geographic or magnetic meridian.
Compass "chariot pointing south."
All the many types of compasses can be divided into magnetic and non-magnetic. It is traditionally believed that magnetic compasses were first invented, the action of which is based on the mutual attraction or repulsion of two magnets. However, there is a Chinese legend about the “south-pointing chariot”, the first non-magnetic compass, invented much earlier.
According to this legend, the Yellow Emperor Huang Di started a war with Emperor Yan Di's tribe. During the fighting, the sorcerer Chi Yu released a thick fog so that Huang Di's people would get lost. But with the help of a south-pointing chariot, they found the right path and were ultimately victorious. According to legend, this happened around 2600 BC. e., but real historical information The invention of the device dates back to the 3rd century. Its essence is that a figurine of a man was installed on the chariot, which pointed to the south regardless of the direction of movement. The complex gear mechanism of the chariot took into account the difference in the number of revolutions of its wheels when turning and turned the figure to face the south.
The simplest magnetic compass consists of a magnetized needle that rotates freely in a horizontal plane and is oriented along the magnetic meridian. Our planet is also a magnet. Opposite poles of magnets attract, like poles repel. When orienting with a modern compass, north is taken as the reference point, so it is traditionally believed that the compass needle points to north, although in fact this is not entirely true. The ends of the magnetic needle point to the Earth's magnetic poles, which do not coincide with the geographic ones, and even drift slowly. It is still conventionally believed that the North Magnetic Pole is located on Somerset Island, 2100 km from the geographic North Pole, although this was true half a century ago. In addition, the accuracy of compass readings is affected by nearby metal objects or magnets, electronic devices, metal ore deposits, and magnetic storms.
Somerset Island surrounded by other islands. Satellite image.
The first, rather primitive, magnetic compass, about which there is reliable historical data, was invented in China. Exactly when this happened is unknown, but in the 3rd century. BC e. The philosopher Hen Fei-tzu described the structure of his contemporary compass, which was called “Sinan”, which means “in charge of the south”: it looked like a magnetite spoon with a thin handle and a spherical, carefully polished convex part. The convex part of the spoon was mounted on an equally carefully polished copper or wooden plate so that the handle did not touch the plate, while the spoon could easily rotate around the axis of its convex base.
Designations of the cardinal points were applied to the plate. By pushing the handle of the spoon, it was set into rotation. Having stopped, the compass pointed with its handle, which played the role of a magnetic needle, towards the south.
In the 11th century the following observation was made: the magnetization effect manifests itself not only when a magnet comes into contact with iron, but also when the red-hot iron cools. This discovery formed the basis of a compass made in the form of an iron fish, which was heated and lowered into a vessel with water. The fish swam in the water, turning its head towards the south. If it was heated again, it lost its magnetic properties. Such a compass is mentioned in the treatise “Fundamentals of Military Affairs” (“Wu Jin Zunyao”), written in 1044.
Chinese navigators began to navigate using magnetic compasses earlier than others.
Chinese magnetic compass.
If you find yourself with a magnetic compass between the north geographic pole and the north magnetic pole, the north end of the needle will point south, and the south end will point north. In the area of the magnetic pole, an arrow suspended on a thread tends to turn downward along the magnetic lines of the Earth.
Around the same time, several types of compass were invented by the Chinese scientist Shen Gua. He suggested, for example, magnetizing an ordinary sewing needle on a natural magnet, then attaching it to a freely hanging silk thread by the middle using wax. This compass pointed the direction more accurately than a floating one, as it experienced much less resistance when turning. Another compass design, proposed by Shen Gua, was even closer to the modern one: a magnetized needle was mounted on a pin. During his experiments, Shen Gua established that the compass needle does not point exactly south, but with some deviation, and correctly explained the reason for this phenomenon by the fact that the magnetic and geographical meridians do not coincide, but form an angle (it is called magnetic declination).
Soon, most Chinese ships were equipped with compasses consisting of a magnetized needle and a piece of cork floating in a container of water. In this form, the Chinese compass in the 12th century. The Arabs borrowed it, and a hundred years later the “floating needle” became known to Europeans. Italian sailors were the first to adopt it from the Arabs. It was they who began to cover the vessel with glass to protect the float from the wind. The European name for this device presumably comes from the Vulgar Latin compassare "to measure".
In the middle of the 14th century. The magnetic needle was placed on the point in the middle of the paper circle of the card. Then the Italian Flavio Gioia improved the compass by dividing the card into 16 parts (points of reference), four for each country of the world. Later the circle was divided into 32 equal sectors. In the 16th century to reduce the impact of pitching, the arrow began to be mounted on a gimbal suspension, and a century later the compass was equipped with a direction finder, a rotating ruler with sights on the ends, which made it possible to more accurately measure the direction. The compass made the same revolution in navigation as gunpowder did in warfare. Armed with a compass, Spanish and Portuguese sailors at the end of the 15th century. ventured on long voyages across the ocean.
Currently, magnetic compasses are used mainly by tourists, topographers, geologists, as well as in orienteering and as an additional means of marine navigation. Since the beginning of the 20th century. non-magnetic gyrocompasses began to be used in navigation. Unlike magnetic ones, they point precisely to the geographic poles of the Earth, and are not influenced by external magnetic fields.
The principle of operation of the gyrocompass is based on the properties of the gyroscope and the daily rotation of the Earth. In fact, a gyrocompass is a gyroscope, a rotating rotor installed in a gimbal suspension, which gives the rotor axis the ability to freely change its position in space. When rotating, the rotor maintains its spatial orientation due to the law of conservation of angular momentum. The rotating gyroscope itself is not a navigation aid. For a procession to occur, the rotor axis, for example with the help of a weight, is held in a horizontal position relative to the surface of the Earth. In this case, gravity creates a torque, causing the rotor axis to turn to true north.
The gyroscope was invented by Johann Bonenberger probably in 1813. In 1852, the French scientist Foucault improved the gyroscope and used it for the first time as an instrument to show changes in direction. The first imperfect gyrocompass was created in 1885 by the Dane Marius Gerardus van den Bos. 20 years later, the German scientist Hermann Anschutz-Kempfe created and patented his model of a gyrocompass based on it, hoping to use it when traveling to the North Pole on a submarine.
Five years later, another version of the gyroscope was patented by the American Elmer Sperry, who founded the Sperry Gyroscope company to produce it. And everything would have been fine, but Sperry risked offering his development to the German Navy, after which Anschutz-Kempfe turned to
to court with a claim of violation of patent law by an American. Albert Einstein himself was invited as a patent expert, who, although after some hesitation, confirmed Anschutz-Kempfe's copyright. Subsequently, Einstein participated in other developments of the German inventor, in particular in the creation of a two-rotor gyroscopic device called the Einstein Anschutz compass.
Leon Foucault.
IN last years Electronic compasses equipped with a block of magnetoresistors of microelectromechanical systems that determine their relative position in the Earth’s magnetic field have become widespread. Electronic navigation aids also include devices that determine coordinates using satellite systems(GPS, GLONASS). Such navigators determine the location of an object by measuring the distance to it from points with known coordinates from satellites in low-Earth orbit. Strictly speaking, these devices are not compasses in the classical sense, since they are just devices with an indication of the heading angle. However, it is expected that the development of navigation in the future will take place in this direction.
A group of scientists from Russia and the USA has invented a light compass: a beam passing through a cloud of rubidium atoms accurately determines the size and orientation magnetic field. In the presence of a magnetic field, the orientation of the atoms changed in one way or another, and these changes were clearly visible in light, indicating both the specific magnitude and direction of the magnetic field.
Man began to travel a very long time ago. Even ancient tribes roamed from place to place in search of food. As people developed, they began to move not only by land, but also by sea. With the advent of navigation, travelers faced the question of orientation in space. At first this happened according to the stars and the sun, but in cloudy weather in the ocean it is not possible to determine the direction. Many early sea travelers went astray. The man realized that without a special device he was doomed to a long search the right path, and maybe to death. Now any child knows how to determine the right direction using a compass. But not everyone knows who invented the compass.
History of the compass
About 3 thousand years ago, a person noticed that a magnetized iron arrow always pointed north. Presumably, the first prototype of a modern compass appeared in ancient China during the reign of the Song Dynasty. But this information is not accurate. According to some sources, the compass was invented much later - 100-200 years BC, however, also by the Chinese. Of course, the ancient device was far from modern devices. But he performed his functions properly. By the way, the ancient Chinese used a compass to navigate deserts. Somewhat later, sailors began to take him with them on voyages. Already in the 11th century AD. The Chinese invented a device with a floating needle in the shape of a fish. The new invention was very popular with the Arabs, who began to use the compass on their merchant ships.
In Europe, the compass appeared quite late. Traders from eastern countries introduced it to Europeans. Only in the 12th century did the first primitive instrument begin to be used by the Spaniards and Italians for navigation. The European compass was a magnetized iron strip that was attached to a plug floating in water. Then, the arrow began to be fixed on a thin pin, which was installed on the bottom of a vessel. Soon, not a single navigator went out to the open sea without this device.
Around the 14th century, Italian jeweler and inventor Flavio Gioia figured out how to improve the compass. He divided it into 16 directions, 4 for each cardinal direction. The new device made it easier to navigate in space. Immediately after this, shipping began to develop at a rapid pace in Portugal and Spain. Now sailors calmly set off on long voyages, without fear of getting lost in the vastness of the ocean. Already by XVIII century The compass becomes a rather complex device, indicating not only the direction, but also the time.
Modern compass
Modern devices have received many new functions, and their appearance bears little resemblance to its ancient counterparts. Their operating principle is no longer based on a magnetic needle, but on complex electronic circuits, with the help of which the Earth’s magnetic field is determined. Many devices are oriented via satellites. Now even in simple models Phones contain GPS receivers that, via satellite, determine the exact location of a person with an accuracy of a degree.
The idea of creating satellite navigation arose back in the 50s of the last century, immediately after the launch of the first artificial satellites. But this idea was put into practice only in 1973. Initially, the GPS satellite navigation system was developed exclusively for the military. But gradually she came into civilian life. Modern systems Navigation in navigation and aviation is unthinkable without satellite communication and orientation systems. Such systems are also used in other areas. For example, in geodesy and cartography.
19.10.2015
In the history of science there is a term “4 great inventions”. We are talking about innovations that were created in China and forever changed people's understanding of the world around them. Along with paper, the wheel and gunpowder, ancient Chinese scientists were the first to give humanity a compass. The compass became the invention without which geographical discoveries would never have been possible, transnational trade and many other processes that created our civilization would not have been able to exist.
The first written mention of a compass dates back to 1044. A Chinese book describes an amazing device with which a traveler could navigate in the desert. The compass was described in detail 40 years later by the Chinese Shen Ko. The author describes the design: a piece of metal was attached to a stick, which was immersed in water. Thus, magnetic resonance was achieved; the part of the tree on which the iron was attached pointed in the direction of the north.
How the compass got to Europe is not known for certain. Apparently, the invention was brought with them by the Arabs, who by the 12th century finally conquered the territory of modern Spain. From there the compass goes first to the Italians and then to the British. By the way, it is worth noting that the modern name of the device etymologically refers precisely to the English compass, which means “circle”.
There is another point of view, according to which the compass in Europe was first invented by the Vikings in the 10th-11th centuries, during the campaigns to the west. In an effort to discover sea routes to unknown countries, the northern wars used a certain invention that made it possible to determine the direction of the cardinal points using water and the sun. It is not without reason that it is believed that Icelandic warriors were the first to reach the shores of America. It’s hard to imagine that they could travel such a long way relying solely on the stars.
The first European scientist to improve the design of the compass was the Italian Flavio Gioia. He proposed attaching the arrow to a pin, which significantly reduced the error in indicating the direction, and also divided the circle into 16 points (later 32). Thus, the sea motion now had virtually no effect on the instrument readings, and ship captains were able to correctly describe and calculate the direction.
In the 20th century, with the development of engineering, geography and geodesy, new types of devices were created: electromagnetic compass, gyrocompass, compass and other devices. Thus, in 1927, an electric compass was first tested. The need for such a development arose in connection with the development of aviation. The first pilot to travel across the Atlantic Ocean with such a compass was the American Charles Lindbergh.
With the development of science came an understanding of some of the subtleties. Thus, the magnetic and real (geographic) poles of the earth do not coincide, which leads to errors in calculations. This is fraught, for example, with a deviation from the course of ships making a voyage. That is why at the end of the 19th century the so-called gyrocompass was developed. Today it is used on almost all sea vessels, it differs more complex design and high accuracy.
The history of the creation of the compass is the history of human observation. If, one day, one Chinese sage had not noticed the connection between the cardinal points, the stars and the reaction of metal, perhaps humanity would have been forced to slow down its development for many years.
History of the compass [VIDEO]
The “Compass” report for children will briefly tell you the history of the discovery of this object. The compass report can also be used during preparation for the lesson.
Compass message
Compass is a device for searching the sides of the horizon using a magnetic needle, which indicates the direction to the south and north. It was invented many centuries ago, and it immediately began to be used by travelers. The compass was the first navigational device that allowed sailors to go out to sea.
Where and when did the first compass appear?
In the 3rd century BC. e. In China, a device was invented that pointed to the cardinal directions. Outwardly, it resembled a spoon with a thin handle and a convex spherical part. It was made from magnetite. The polished convex part of the spoon was placed on a wooden or copper plate, also polished. The handle hung freely above the plate, but the spoon rotated around the axis of the convex base. The countries of the world were indicated on the plate. The compass needle, at rest, always pointed exactly south. This ancient compass was called sonan, that is, “in charge of the south.”
In the 11th century, the Chinese invented a floating compass needle made from an artificial magnet. The iron compass then had the shape of a fish. First, it was heated until red, and then lowered into a vessel with water. The “fish” began to swim, and its head pointed to the south. Shen Gua, a scientist from the same China, proposed a couple of varieties of compass: with a magnetized needle and silk thread, with a magnetized needle and hairpin. In the 12th century, a compass with a magnetic needle was used by the Arabs, and a century later by the Italians, French, Spaniards and Portuguese.
In the 14th century, they began to place a magnetic needle on a point in the middle of a circle made of paper - a card. The next person to improve the compass was the Italian Flavio Giulio. He divided the paper circle into 16 parts. In the 17th century, it was improved with a rotating ruler with sights, which made it possible to more accurately calculate the direction.
What does a compass consist of?
The design of the device depends on the type of compass. The following types are distinguished: gyrocompass, magnetic compass, electronic compass. The main part of a regular magnetic compass is a compass with a pin in the center. There is a magnetic needle at the end of the spire, and the body itself is covered with glass on top.
Compass: interesting facts
- Before the invention and spread of the compass, sailors on their ships did not go out to the open sea, so as not to get lost.
- The compass was brought to Europe by Venetian merchants.
- Before the Chinese, the Indians used something like a compass. In San Lorenzo Tenochtilan, scientists found a hematite artifact dating back to 1000 BC. But magnetic iron ore was still discovered by the Chinese.
- You can make your own compass from a saucer of water and a magnetized needle.
We hope that the report about the compass helped you learn a lot useful information about him. A short story You can leave information about the compass using the comment form below.
Instructions
The idea of creating a compass belongs to the ancient Chinese. In the 3rd century BC. one of the Chinese philosophers described the compass of that time as follows. It was a magnetite pouring spoon, which had a thin handle and a well-polished spherical convex part. The spoon rested with its convex part on the same carefully polished surface of copper or wooden plate, while the handle of the plate did not touch, but hung freely above it. In this way, the spoon could rotate around its convex base. On the plate itself the cardinal directions were drawn in the form of zodiac signs. If you specifically pushed the handle of the spoon, it began to rotate, and when it stopped, the handle always pointed exactly to the south.
Everyone in China in the 11th century came up with a floating compass needle. It was made from an artificial magnet, usually in the shape of a fish. She was placed in a vessel with water, where she floated freely, and when she stopped, she also always pointed her head to the south. Other forms of the compass were invented in the same century by the Chinese scientist Shen Gua. He proposed magnetizing an ordinary sewing needle on a natural magnet, and then attaching this needle in the center of the body to a silk thread using wax. This resulted in less turning of the needle than in water, and therefore the compass showed a more accurate direction. Another model proposed by the scientist involved fastening not to a silk thread, but to a hairpin, which is more reminiscent modern form compass.
Almost all Chinese ships in XI had floating compasses installed. It is in this form that they spread throughout the world. They were first adopted by the Arabs in the 12th century. Later, the magnetic needle became known in European countries: first in Italy, then in Portugal, Spain, France, and later in England and Germany. At first, a magnetized needle on a piece of wood or cork floated in a vessel with water, later they decided to cover the vessel with glass, and even later they figured out placing a magnetic needle on a point in the center of a paper circle. Then the compass was improved by the Italians, a coil was added to it, which was divided into 16 (later 32) equal sectors pointing to the cardinal directions (first 4, and later 8 sectors for each side).
Further development of science and technology made it possible to create an electromagnetic version of the compass, which is more advanced in the sense that it does not provide for deviations due to the presence of ferromagnetic parts in the compass. vehicle on which it is used. In 1908, the German engineer G. Anschutz-Kampfe created a prototype of a gyrocompass, the advantage of which was to indicate the direction not to the magnetic north pole, but to the true geographic one. The gyrocompass is almost universally used for navigation and control of large sea vessels. The modern era of new computer technologies has made it possible to come up with an electronic compass, the creation of which is associated primarily with the development of a satellite navigation system.
