Compass

Thanksgiving is the peak travel weekend in the United States, with nearly 40 million Americans leaving home to visit relatives, heading home from college or simply going on vacation to relax. And how to they know they are traveling in the right direction? The compass, of course.

Other, more accurate, devices have been invented for determining north that do not depend on the Earth's magnetic field for operation. A gyrocompass or astrocompass can be used to find true north, while being unaffected by stray magnetic fields, nearby electrical power circuits or nearby masses of ferrous metals. A recent development is the electronic compass, or Fibre optic gyrocompass, which detects the magnetic directions without potentially fallible moving parts. This device frequently appears as an optional subsystem built into GPS receivers. However, magnetic compasses remain popular, especially in remote areas, as they are cheap, durable, and require no electrical power supply.

This week, a look at the compass.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "If only we'd stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time." - Edith Wharton (US novelist, 1862 - 1937)

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Compass