All about the compass for children. History of the compass

(the word “cybernetics” translated from Greek means “helmsman” or “helmsman”). This science required the emergence of special instruments that would help travelers find the right path. One of them was a compass - a device indicating the direction of the geographic or magnetic meridian. Modern compasses are magnetic, mechanical, radio and others.

The word "compass" apparently comes from the ancient English word compass, which meant in the XIII-XIV centuries. "circle".

The first mention of the invention of the compass in Europe dates back to the 12th century. This device was simply a magnetized iron needle mounted on a stopper, floating in a vessel of water. Then they came up with the idea of ​​strengthening the arrow on an axis fixed to the bottom of the bowl.

However, in China the compass was known much earlier. They called him "chi-an". Chinese chronicles attribute its invention to the semi-mythical Bogdykhan (emperor) Huang Di, who reigned 2600 years BC.

Such a legend has been preserved in Chinese chronicles. Emperor Huang Di fought with one Mongol khan. After the defeat, the Mongols began to retreat into the desert, and Chinese troops pursued them for a long time. However, the Mongol horsemen played a trick: they raised such dust that it obscured the sun. When the dust cleared, the Mongols were already out of sight. The pursuers rushed in one direction or the other, but nowhere did they encounter even signs of human habitation. They realized that they were lost. They ran out of food and began to suffer from unbearable thirst. And then Emperor Huang Di remembered the tiny iron man that one sage gave him. This little man, no matter how you put him, always pointed his hand to the south. The emperor mounted the little man on his chariot and led the exhausted army in the direction where the little man's hand was pointing. And soon everyone saw familiar places.

The legend, of course, cannot serve as a reliable source. But there is other information that the compass was actually invented in China, approximately 100-200 years BC - 3 thousand years later than indicated in the legend. But even in this case, the Chinese are still the discoverers of the compass.

It is also known that about 800 years ago, Arab sailors used a compass. Perhaps they adopted this invention from the Chinese, all of whose ships in the 11th century were equipped with compasses. The Arabic device was made in the shape of an iron fish. The magnetized fish was lowered into the water, and each time it invariably turned its head to the north. Venetian merchants probably learned about this device from the Arabs, who brought it to Italy. From here the compass became known throughout the Mediterranean countries, and from there throughout Europe. In any case, the first mention of the use of a magnetic needle in navigation is found in the work of the Englishman Alexander Neckam, written in 1180, and he writes about it as something already known.

The prototype of the modern compass was invented by the Italian Flavio Gioia in the 14th century (they even name the exact year - 1302). Before this, the compass served only to determine the north-south direction. And Gioia proposed dividing the compass circle into 16 parts (points of reference) to determine other cardinal points. In addition, he placed the compass needle on a pin for better rotation.

In Italy there is a beautiful legend associated with the name of Flavio Gioia.

A long time ago, when the city of Amalfi stood, like Venice, on the seashore, there lived a poor man, Flavio Gioia, a goldsmith and inlaymaker. He was in love with the beautiful Angela, the daughter of the rich fisherman Domenico. The stern Domenico considered second-class people those who did not go to sea with oars or sails, and did not experience themselves in storms and tempests. And Flavio Joya, unfortunately, belonged to this category of people. Domenico did not want to have such a son-in-law, but he decided to refuse the suitor for his daughter’s hand diplomatically and therefore set a condition: Flavio must sail a boat strictly in a straight line at least once at night or in the fog. At that time, such a task was impossible. Even his comrades, experienced sailors, failed to do this.

But Flavio accepted the challenge. He took an oblong lodestone, which he mounted horizontally on a round flat plug. He installed a graduated disk on the top surface of the cork. This is how the sensitive element of the magnetic compass turned out - the card.

So that the card could rotate in a horizontal plane, Flavio pierced it with a vertical axis with sharp ends, which rested on supports installed in the body of the device - the cup. However, due to the pressure of the card on the lower support, a large friction moment arose, which prevented the rotation of the card and caused large errors in the device. Then Flavio poured water into the cup. The plug floated up, the pressure on the lower support decreased, and the rotation of the card became smooth and free. In one place on the edge of the cup, Flavio drew a thin line, and divided the entire circumference of the disk of the card into 16 equal parts - points.

The day of testing has arrived. Flavio got into the boat and positioned his device so that the thin line on the cup coincided with the longitudinal axis of the boat. The card, swaying around its axis, stopped in such a position that one end of the oblong magnetic stone pointed to the north. Flavio noticed the rhumba, which was established against the thin line on the cup, and set off. He just had to steer the boat so that while moving against the thin line on the cup there would be the same point.

So Flavio completed the task and married Angela.

Many researchers believe that Flavio Gioia is a fictitious figure... However, this did not stop grateful Italian descendants from erecting two monuments to the inventor of the compass: in Naples and in Gioia’s homeland - in the city of Amalfi.

Yes, yes, this is not a mistake: the science of the laws of control processes and information transfer - cybernetics - got its name from the ancient Greek name for the art of navigation!

The compass, like paper, was invented by the Chinese in ancient times. In the 3rd century BC. The Chinese philosopher Hen Fei-tzu described the structure of the contemporary compass this way: it looked like a pouring spoon made of magnetite with a thin handle and a spherical, carefully polished convex part. With this convex part, the spoon was mounted on an equally carefully polished copper or wooden plate, so that the handle did not touch the plate, but hung freely above it, and at the same time the spoon could easily rotate around the axis of its convex base. The plate contained designations of the countries of the world in the form of cyclic zodiac signs. By pushing the handle of the spoon, it was set into rotation. Having calmed down, the compass pointed with its handle (which played the role of a magnetic needle) exactly to the south. This was the most ancient device for determining the cardinal directions. In the 11th century, a floating compass needle made from an artificial magnet first appeared in China. Usually it was made in the shape of a fish. This fish was lowered into a vessel with water. Here she swam freely, pointing her head in the direction where the south was. Several types of compass were invented in the same 11th century by the Chinese scientist Shen Gua, who worked hard to study the properties of the magnetic needle. He suggested, for example, magnetizing an ordinary sewing needle on a natural magnet, then attaching it with wax in the center of the body to a freely hanging silk thread. This compass indicated the direction more accurately than the floating one, since it experienced much less resistance when turning. Another compass design, proposed by Shen Gua, was even closer to the modern one: a magnetized needle was mounted on a pin. During his experiments, Shen Gua established that the compass needle does not point exactly to the south, but with some deviation, and correctly explained the reason for this phenomenon by the fact that the magnetic and geographical meridians do not coincide with each other, but form an angle. Scientists who lived after Shen Gua were already able to calculate this angle (called magnetic declination) for various regions of China. In the 11th century, many Chinese ships were equipped with floating compasses. They were usually installed at the bow and stern of ships, so that captains could keep the correct course in any weather, in accordance with their instructions. In this form, the Chinese compass was borrowed by the Arabs in the 12th century. At the beginning of the 13th century, the “floating needle” became known to Europeans. Italian sailors were the first to adopt it from the Arabs. From them the compass passed to the Spaniards, Portuguese and French, and later to the Germans and British. At first, the compass consisted of a magnetized needle and a piece of wood (cork) floating in a vessel with water. Soon they figured out how to cover this vessel with glass to protect the float from the wind. In the middle of the 14th century, they came up with the idea of ​​placing a magnetic needle on a point in the middle of a paper circle (card). Then the Italian Flavio Gioia improved the compass by equipping it with a card divided into 16 parts (points of reference), four for each part of the world. This simple device was a big step in improving the compass. Later the circle was divided into 32 equal sectors. In the 16th century, to reduce the impact of pitching, the arrow began to be mounted on a gimbal, and a century later the compass was equipped with a rotating ruler with sights on the ends, which made it possible to more accurately measure directions. The compass made the same revolution in navigation as gunpowder did in warfare, and the conversion process in metallurgy. It was the first navigational instrument that made it possible to plot a course on the open sea. Armed with a compass, Spanish and Portuguese sailors at the end of the 15th century ventured on long voyages. They left the sea shores (to which navigation had been tied for several millennia) and set sail across the ocean.

My acquaintance with this simple and mysterious device took place in my distant wonderful childhood, when the whole family went to pick mushrooms. I was given a simple student's permit compass and provided instructions on terrain orientation. Having successfully gotten lost, I pulled out the navigation device, freed the treasured arrow - and went in the direction it indicated. Fortunately, the case ended well - they found me. Let's figure out together what this compass is, and also, with its help, take a short trip into the past.

What is a compass?

This is special a device with the ability to indicate the direction of the Earth's magnetic poles regardless of your location. Sailors, in order to emphasize their difference from land inhabitants, flaunt the pronunciation “kompAs”.

Structurally, compasses are:

• magnetic. The most common and easiest compass to make. Its action is based on one of the properties of a magnet - the device's arrow is always parallel to the planet's magnetic field lines(remember school experiments with iron filings?);
• electromagnetic. These compasses work like electric generators and, unlike the above, not influenced by other magnets. Such a device was first successfully tested in 1927 by Charles Lindbergh on his famous flight across the Atlantic Ocean;
• gyrocompasses. Founded based on the gyroscope principle, such devices are widely used in marine navigation. Possess important feature point to the geographic pole rather than the magnetic pole.

Invention of the compass

There are several theories regarding the appearance of the compass (for example, followers of the Samothracian mysteries back in the 3rd century BC knew about the properties of a magnet and used it in their rituals, and excavations of the camps of nomadic peoples of the Mediterranean indicate their familiarity with the “magic arrow”), but , nevertheless, holds the palm in this matter. The first magnetic compass saw the light during the reign of Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD). Despite detailed description its device to the scientist Shen Ko, the real inventor of the ingenious device, alas, is unknown.

The “Compass” report for children will briefly tell you the history of the discovery of this object. The compass report can also be used during preparation for the lesson.

Compass message

Compass is a device for searching the sides of the horizon using a magnetic needle, which indicates the direction to the south and north. It was invented many centuries ago, and it immediately began to be used by travelers. The compass was the first navigational device that allowed sailors to go out to sea.

Where and when did the first compass appear?

In the 3rd century BC. e. In China, a device was invented that pointed to the cardinal directions. Outwardly, it resembled a spoon with a thin handle and a convex spherical part. It was made from magnetite. The polished convex part of the spoon was placed on a wooden or copper plate, also polished. The handle hung freely above the plate, but the spoon rotated around the axis of the convex base. The countries of the world were indicated on the plate. The compass needle, at rest, always pointed exactly south. This ancient compass was called sonan, that is, “in charge of the south.”

In the 11th century, the Chinese invented a floating compass needle made from an artificial magnet. The iron compass then had the shape of a fish. First, it was heated until red, and then lowered into a vessel with water. The “fish” began to swim, and its head pointed to the south. Shen Gua, a scientist from the same China, proposed a couple of varieties of compass: with a magnetized needle and silk thread, with a magnetized needle and hairpin. In the 12th century, a compass with a magnetic needle was used by the Arabs, and a century later by the Italians, French, Spaniards and Portuguese.

In the 14th century, they began to place a magnetic needle on a point in the middle of a circle made of paper - a card. The next person to improve the compass was the Italian Flavio Giulio. He divided the paper circle into 16 parts. In the 17th century, it was improved with a rotating ruler with sights, which made it possible to more accurately calculate the direction.

What does a compass consist of?

The design of the device depends on the type of compass. The following types are distinguished: gyrocompass, magnetic compass, electronic compass. The main part of a regular magnetic compass is a compass with a pin in the center. There is a magnetic needle at the end of the spire, and the body itself is covered with glass on top.

Compass: interesting facts

• Before the invention and spread of the compass, sailors on their ships did not go out to the open sea, so as not to get lost.
• The compass was brought to Europe by Venetian merchants.
• Before the Chinese, the Indians used something like a compass. In San Lorenzo Tenochtilan, scientists found a hematite artifact dating back to 1000 BC. But magnetic iron ore was still discovered by the Chinese.
• You can make your own compass from a saucer of water and a magnetized needle.

We hope that the report about the compass helped you learn a lot useful information about him. You can leave a short story about the compass using the comment form below.

U modern people there is no problem in determining your location with high accuracy - you can, for example, use devices equipped with a GPS or GLONASS sensor. However, in ancient times, people encountered problems when traveling long distances. It was especially difficult to navigate when traveling through deserts or sailing in the open sea, where there were no known landmarks. As a result, travelers could easily get lost and die. Already after the beginning of the era of great geographical discoveries in the 16-17 centuries. sailors often lost already discovered islands or mapped them several times, to say nothing of ancient sailors.

Of course, even in ancient times, people still found ways to determine the cardinal directions; observation of the Sun and stars helped with this, first of all. It has long been observed that although stars change their position, one of the stars, viz. polar Star, is always in one place. They began to determine the direction to the north using this star. But what if the sky is covered with clouds, and neither the Sun nor the stars are visible? The direction of movement cannot be determined; the ship goes off course and may sail completely in the wrong direction. Therefore, distant expeditions were a very dangerous business until the compass appeared, and it is no coincidence that only after sailors began to use it, all corners of our planet were discovered and explored. When and by whom was the compass invented?

The principle of operation of the compass is based on the fact that the earth has a magnetic field and is like one big magnet. A compass has a magnetic needle, which in the Earth’s magnetic field always points in the direction of the magnetic poles, which are located close to the geographic ones. Thus, using a compass you can determine the direction to the cardinal points. There is a material in nature that has magnetic properties, namely magnetite (magnetic iron ore).

magnetite

The property of pieces of magnetite to be attracted to each other, as well as to iron objects, has long been noticed by people. For example, the ancient Greek philosopher Thales Miletus wrote about this in his works in the 6th century. BC e., however, he did not find any practical use for magnets. And the Chinese found him.

It is not known for certain when the Chinese invented the compass, but its first description that has survived to this day dates back to the 3rd century BC. e. The ancient Chinese compass was something like a magnetite spoon mounted on a polished copper plate. He looked like this:

ancient chinese compass

The spoon was spun and after a while it stopped so that its end pointed south. Moreover, initially the compass in China was not used for navigation at all, but in the mystical system of Feng Shui. In Feng Shui, it is very important to correctly orient objects to the cardinal directions, and for this purpose a compass was used.

A lot of time passed before the compass was improved and began to be used in travel, first on land and then at sea. Instead of a piece of magnetite, they began to use a magnetized iron needle, which was suspended on a silk thread or lowered into a vessel with water, where, floating on the surface, it turned in the direction of the magnetic pole. Important improvements to the compass, as well as a description of magnetic declination (i.e., direction deviation by magnetic pole and geographical) was made by the Chinese scientist Shen Gua in the 11th century. It was after this that the compass began to be actively used by Chinese sailors. From them the compass became known to the Arabs, and in the 13th century. The famous traveler Marco Polo brought a compass from China to Europe.

In Europe, the compass was improved. They began to install the arrow on a pin, and added a scale divided into points to more accurately indicate the direction. In later versions, the compass began to be installed on a special suspension (the so-called gimbal) so that the ship's pitching did not affect the readings.

antique ship's compass

The advent of the compass gave a huge impetus to the development of navigation in Europe and helped European sailors cross the oceans and discover new continents.