Home >> Science & Nature >> Rocks & Minerals

How to Use a Miner's Compass

The magnetic properties of lodestone were well known in ancient Greece. Chinese sailors noticed that a piece of lodestone -- placed on a wooden stick floating in a bowl of water -- aligned itself with the North Star. This is how the compass was born. Land-based explorers soon realized that compasses behaved erratically in the presence of magnetic interference, such as a lode of iron ore. This was not an inconvenience for miners in search of ore deposits; the miners used the magnetic properties of lodestone to find rich veins.

Instructions

- 1
  Hang the miner's compass so the magnetic needle is suspended vertically; the needle must move freely move up and down. A miner's compass is essentially a compass with a vertical needle.
- 2
  Hold the compass so it is aligned with the plane of the magnetic meridian. This is the imaginary line that passes through the North and South pole.
- 3
  Look at the needle while standing in an area far from any magnetic disturbances. Check that the miner's compass is working correctly. A properly functioning compass describes a horizontal line, aligned with the zero-degree marks on each of its sides.
- 4
  Go to an area suspected of containing underlying ore deposits; check the needle of your compass as you move around. You have detected the presence of iron ore if the needle dips. The mass of magnetic ore attracts the the magnetized needle of the compass, and causes it to dip.

Rocks & Minerals