The compass

Principle

The students examine the alignment of a freely rotating bar magnet and of a compass needle in the Earth's magnetic field, notice that both the bar magnet and compass needle point to the Earth's North Pole and deduce that magnets always point to a specific direction and the compass needle must also be a magnet.

Benefits

• Experiment guides are very easy to understand, especially for younger students
• Associated competences are directly linked to the experiments
• Curriculum compatible
• Fit for the future: implementation of tablets possible