Since its first documented use by the Chinese centuries ago, the magnetic compass has guided countless sailors safely across the seas. Though the compass allowed for the advent of modern ...

Primarily, the compass was used for geomancy for a long time before it was used for navigation Ancient Chinese alchemists realized that the magnetite ore would point towards a magnetic north. Their ...

According to the Oxford dictionary on that newish magnetic machine, my iBook, the use of the compass for navigation was reported in China about 1100AD, and in Western Europe some 80 years later.

You’ve made a compass. The first compasses were used in China as early as 200 B.C., derived from the tools of fortune-tellers who divined the future using a spoon made of a magnetic iron ore ...

Until the arrival of GPS, the magnetic compass was the single most useful navigational tool available to humans. But it’s a recent invention. Although Chinese explorers understood the principles of ...

Our moon and Mars have magnetic fields, but they are far weaker than Earth’s, meaning you would have to get pretty close to either one before they start affecting the bearing of your compass.