Talk:South Pole----
Common mix up with the North and the South poles
Because we use the words for "the north" and "the south" ends of a magnet. There can be some major confusion with the earth's north and south poles. For people who have studied the theory on magnetism. There is the problem here. And it is not understood by too many. Example: There is a magnetic pole at the northern end of the earth. But it is not the "north" or should I say "negative" magnetic pole end. It is the "south" end or the "positive" magnetic pole end.
It is noted that the Chinese considered the compass a south-pointing device. And it seems they may of been the first to be right. We still call it the "north pole". It is the northern pole, but not "North" magnetically.
Why is this important: If your plane crashes. And you must make yourself an "out-in-the-woods" compass. And you get it wrong. Instead of moving south, you might go north and died of freezing. We're in the twenty first Century. Let's get it right. Stop the Chinese from all that laugher. By: Bio-molecular-Tony
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Pole Magnetic North Magnetic North is one of several locations on the Earth's surface known as the "North Pole". Its definition, as the point where the geomagnetic field points vertically downwards, i.e. the dip is 90°, was proposed in 1600 by Sir William Gilbert, a courtier of Queen Elizabeth I, and is still used. It should not be confused with the less frequently used Geomagnetic North Pole.
Magnetic North is the place to which all magnetic compasses point, although since the pole marked "N" on a bar magnet points north, and only opposite magnetic poles are attracted to each other, the Earth's magnetic north is actually a south magnetic pole.
[edit] Why this needs to be explained in the correct technical way When I was studying Electronics at home. This issue put me threw hell. After reading three other books on electronic. I found the right answer. The fact that this lack of information about this is the root of all those books and web pages that are worded wrongly. Anyone studying the subject will be mislead or confused as to which book to believe. Encyclopaedias are the first place people go for conformation of information.
Let's brake the tradition of misinformation on this issue. Help those that really need to know. Help stop the writers and book publishers from repeating the same dumb old mistaken view. To be correctly educated is better then to have a thousand badly written books.
By: Bio-molecular-Tony
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