How to use a Compass

A compass, by definition, is a navigational instrument used for finding the directions on Earth.

A magnetic compass makes the use of the primary factor of Earth’s polarity. Earth has its own magnetic pull caused due to the movement of the Earth around its axis. This helps greatly in the functioning of the magnetic compass.

As you all must be aware, Earth has two poles: North and South. In a compass, the needle will always point to the north. This is a very helpful fact, because based on this, one can easily figure out the other directions.

Let me make it easy, if the direction ‘North’ is in front of you, then the direction ‘South’ will be right behind you, the direction ‘West’ will be at your left hand side and ‘East’ would be at your right.

There are also four other directions that people work with. These are in-between the four major directions we looked at before. Between the North and the West is ‘North-West’, between the North and the East is ‘North-East’, between the South and the West is ‘South-West’ and finally ‘South-East’ is between South and East.

On a compass, all these directions are usually marked. There is a needle, usually colored red and black or red and white, where the red part of the needle points to the North.

Thus, at any point of time, if you are lost in the wilderness and have no map with you, then with the help of your compass, you can find out the major directions easily. Since the needle will always point to the North, you can figure out the other directions and find your way.

Magnetic compass’ nowadays come with several bells and whistles designed to make it easier for you to figure these things out. Often, the directions are on a knob which you can turn around to suit your position (getting the ‘North’ of the needle and the ‘North’ on the knob to coincide) and then get a sense of the directions.

However, all of this will work if you know that in a particular direction you will find a major landmark like a stream or river or a road which will take you back to civilization. And having a compass thus ensures that you don’t end up going around in circles.