The Chinese were the first people to invent the compass. That gave them an incredible advantage over everybody else because they could trade easier. The first compasses were made out of magnetic mineral and lodestone. They used the idea of magnetic minerals because the earth is like a big magnet because the earth has two magnetic poles. The two poles are the North Pole and the South Pole. These two poles are at opposite ends of the earth. Lodestone is a magnetic material. The lodestone would float on water and it would point north. It was invented during the third century B.C.E. They eventually replaced the lodestone with steel needles. They were incredibly smart and they knew rubbing the lodestone on the needle made the needle magnetic. This made it easier to determine their location because the needle was more accurate than a piece of lodestone. During the Song Dynasty, the Chinese were using magnetic compasses, to navigate in the ocean. We still use navigational devices like the compass today. Without we wouldn't be able to travel at sea, or we wouldn't be able to travel during times with bad weather! Compasses help us when we are lost, and when we need to know where we are. That is why the compass is so important to us! Here is a link to my other web page on Chinese Inventions!

 

 

 

How to make a chinese compass:

What you’ll need: a source of heat (a fire, or a cookstove, or a Bunsen burner), a needle, anything that floats, and a small container of water (like a yogurt container) big enough at the top for the float to spin around freely. And you need to know which way is north.
What to do: heat up the needle until it is red-hot (don't hold it or you will get burned! Stick it into a pencil eraser and THEN hold it in the fire!). Put it on a plate lined up north-south and let it cool. Then stick the needle to the float. Put the float in the water, and the needle will spin around to point north-south.

Or, if you don’t want to bother with heat, you can use any magnet to magnetize the needle, like a refrigerator magnet. Just hold the needle by one end and rub the other end along the magnet about 60 times. Be sure to always go the same direction, not back and forth! That should also magnetize the needle. One end will point north. I got these directions at History for Kids