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" by people along Sina because of its function and function, because the ancients were too lazy to change it because they knew that "North" could find "South".

2. In the ancient culture of China, the south was Yang and the north was Yin, and the living respected Yang. In ancient China, "south" has always been the main direction of the north and south, while facing south is a highly respected position, and there is a saying that "south is king and north is north", that is, facing south is called emperor, while facing north is a courtier who worships the king, and the emperor sits in the position facing south. The doors and windows of the main house face south. Therefore, 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 magnets repel the same sex and attract the opposite sex-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 China in the pre-Qin period accumulated their understanding of magnetic phenomena. When looking for iron ore, they often encounter magnetite, that is, magnetite (mainly composed of Fe3O4, alias iron oxide black, magnet and magnet, also known as magnetic iron oxide).

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

The ancients thought that magnets attracted iron was the attraction of loving mothers to their children. And think: "Stone is the mother of iron, but there are two kinds of stones: kindness and unkindness. Kindness can attract his children, but not kindness. " Before the Han Dynasty, the ancients wrote magnets as "magnets", which was a sign of caring for stones.

During the Western Han Dynasty, there was an alchemist named Luan Da. He made two works by using the characteristics of magnets. By adjusting the mutual position of the polarities of two chess pieces, sometimes the two chess pieces attract each other, and sometimes they repel each other. Luanda called it "chess fighting". He dedicated this 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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