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Q.What direction compass needle points at poles? Which needle to be used at poles?

Telangana TsbieTelangana Board of Intermediate Education 2019Subjective· 2mImportance★★★★★
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At the poles the Earth's magnetic field is entirely vertical, so a normal horizontal compass fails; a dip needle, free to swing in the vertical plane, is used instead.

Behaviour at the poles: Earth's magnetic field B⃗\vec{B} can be resolved into a horizontal component BHB_H and a vertical component BVB_V. The angle of dip δ\delta is given by tan⁡δ=BV/BH\tan\delta = B_V/B_H.

  • At the magnetic equator, δ=0∘\delta = 0^\circ: the field is purely horizontal.
  • At the magnetic poles, δ=90∘\delta = 90^\circ: the field is purely vertical (BH=0B_H = 0).

An ordinary compass needle is pivoted to rotate only in the horizontal plane; it relies on BHB_H to orient itself north–south. At the poles BH≈0B_H \approx 0, so an ordinary compass needle has no horizontal torque acting on it and simply points randomly (does not settle in any particular horizontal direction) — it effectively tries to stand vertically.

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