Earth is surrounded by a magnetic field generated by electric currents from within the planet. Compasses take advantage of this field to identify north and serve as a navigational aid.
But one social media user asserts this effect shouldn't work on a spherical planet, attempting to bolster the long-debunked theory that the Earth is flat.
"A compass will never work on a Spinning Ball," reads a Feb. 17 Facebook post. The post includes a video, viewed more than 3,500 times in four days.
However, the post demonstrates a misunderstanding of the way compasses function, according to experts.
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The Facebook user who shared the video could not be reached.
The Earth's magnetic field has poles – north and south. These poles move, but are located relatively near the geographic north and south poles – the poles typically shown on maps.
A compass is able to point toward magnetic north because it contains a magnet that orients itself along the magnetic field lines that extend between the north and south magnetic poles, looping out from the earth as they circle the globe and connect to the opposite pole.
Because the current locations of both magnetic and geographic north are known, a simple adjustment allows the user to orient themselves to geographic north so they can effectively use a...
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