Categories: EarthVideos

Why the North Pole Is Really a South Pole (and Vice Versa)

If you go out hiking this weekend and somehow find yourself hopelessly lost in the wilderness, but suddenly remember you have a compass with you, you can use it to find north because the needle always points towards the Earth’s geographic north pole, which never changes… right?

Wrong, wrong, and wrong. And this video from MinutePhysics explains why.

(But still bring a compass with you. They do come in handy.)

See more videos from MinutePhysics here.

Jason Major

A graphic designer in Rhode Island, Jason writes about space exploration on his blog Lights In The Dark, Discovery News, and, of course, here on Universe Today. Ad astra!

Recent Posts

Low Gravity Simulator Lets You Jump Around in Lunar Gravity

When the Apollo astronauts landed on the Moon, they had to perform tasks in 1/6th…

1 day ago

Now We Know How a Solar Storm Took Out a Fleet of Starlinks

On March 23rd, sky observers marveled at a gorgeous display of northern and southern lights.…

1 day ago

Gravitational Waves From Colliding Neutron Stars Matched to a Fast Radio Burst

A recent study by an Australian-American team has provided compelling evidence that FRBs may be…

2 days ago

Plans are Underway to Build a 30 Cubic Kilometer Neutrino Telescope

How do astronomers look for neutrinos? These small, massless particles whiz through the universe at…

2 days ago

China Hints at Its Goals for a Lunar Base

At a recent national space conference, scientists with the Chinese Academy of Sciences shared the…

3 days ago

Artemis II is Literally Coming Together

NASA engineers have completed assembling the core stage of the Artemis II rocket, which will…

3 days ago