The compass points clearly to the north. Why is it called compass instead of compass?

1, the ancient people in China usually knew the direction by looking at the North Star, but in order to cope with the night without stars, they invented the compass. Compass, formerly known as Sina, is shaped like a big spoon. This is based on the Big Dipper, because if you find the Big Dipper, you can find the North Star.

Sina's spoon handle really points to the south, so the compass invented later was also called "compass" because of its function and function, because the ancients knew that "North" could find "South", so they were too lazy to change it.

2. In the ancient culture of China, the south was Yang and the north was Yin, and all living people respected Yang. In ancient China, "South" has always been the main direction of the north and south, and the south is a respected position. There is a saying that "South is king and north is north", that is, facing south is called emperor, facing north is courtier worshiping king, and the emperor sits facing south. The doors and windows of the main house face south. So the direction is mainly south.

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The earth is a big magnet. The poles of the earth are close to the geographical south pole and the geographical north pole respectively. When the magnets on the surface of the earth can rotate freely, they will indicate the north and south because of the nature that the magnets repel each other and attract each other-this truth was not understood by the ancients; But this phenomenon has been discovered by the ancients. ?

Discovery of magnetic phenomena

The working people in the pre-Qin period in China have accumulated their understanding of magnetic phenomena. When they are looking for iron ore, they often encounter magnetite, that is, magnetite (the main component is Fe3O4, alias iron oxide black, magnet, magnet, also called magnetic iron oxide).

These findings have long been recorded in several articles in Guanzi: "There is a magnet on the mountain, and there is gold and copper under it." There is a similar record in Shan Hai Jing. The iron-absorbing property of magnets was discovered long ago, and the nine volumes of Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals are proficient in: "Kindly absorb iron, or absorb it." The ancients called "magnetism" kindness.

The ancients regarded magnets attracting iron as the attraction of loving mothers to their children. And think: "Stone is the mother of iron, but there are two kinds of stones: kind and unkind. Kindness can attract his children, but not kindness. " Before the Han Dynasty, the ancients wrote magnets as "Ci Shi", which was a sign of love for stones.

In the Western Han Dynasty, there was an alchemist named Luan Da. He made two pieces by using the characteristics of magnets. By adjusting the mutual position of the polarities of the two parts, sometimes the two parts attract each other and sometimes they repel each other. Luan Da called it "playing chess". He dedicated the novel to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and gave a live demonstration. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was pleasantly surprised. He was named "General Five Blessingg".

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