108) “The mariner’s compass is an impossible and
non-sensical instrument for use on a ball-Earth. It simultaneously points North
and South over a flat surface, yet claims to be pin-pointing two constantly
moving geomagnetic poles at opposite ends of a spinning sphere originating from
a hypothetical molten metal core. If compass needles were actually drawn to the
North pole of a globe, the opposing “South” needle would actually be pointing
up and off into outer-space.”
Nobody says that compasses always point towards the poles. They align along magnetic field lines. When you place a compass at equal distances to both ends of a bar magnet, the compass needle will not point at one pole, but will align itself parallel to the magnet. That only works with two poles establishing a magnetic field:
Timescales are a myth
The movement of the magnetic poles has a sufficiently larger timescale than that of a sailing trip. Or several of them. Or a thousand years of them.
You can make magnetic field lines visible by dropping iron fillings around the magnet. These can be thought of as really tiny compass needles, that point along the field lines. |
Furthermore, a compass doesn't point towards the pole. It points along a field line. A field line isn't an actual line, but it is a good way to show them. Essentially a magnetic field is a continuous variable, but if you want to draw them you use field lines. Iron fillings, such as depicted to the right, turn into tiny bar magnets themselves. This means they have their own field, so the filings close to each other line up to the effective field, which is simply the sum of that of the other filings plus the big bar magnet's field. The reason they do line up is simply minimisation of energy - the driving principle of most of classical mechanics, but also of quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, and basically most of physics.
http://blog.daimonie.com/2015_11_01_archive.html
What you say is true .... but ....
ReplyDeleteThe magnetic field lines do in fact point down/up at quite a steep angle around most of the earths surface. The reason that we don't see this when using a compass is that it physically prevents vertical tilting of the needle. So by all means point out that Dubay doesn't understand magnetic field lines, but with a vertically free moving magnet we will see the needle pointing up and off into space more and more as we move to higher latitudes!