
Suitable For
Grade 7
Difficulty
1
Time Required
<1 Hour
Supervision
Advised
What’s it about?
A very old method of finding north without a compass is by using your wristwatch, the sun and a thin stick. Even though this method to find your direction is not very accurate, Boy Scouts swear by it! Astronomers, explorers and other professionals however, do not deem this method as very reliable, and would need to use more precise equipment for more accurate readings. Find out for yourself how accurate this method of finding true north is in the following science experiment:
Topics covered
Magnetic North, True North
What will I need?
- WRISTWATCH
- TOOTHPICK
- COMPASS
Procedure (Method)
A very old method of finding north without a compass is by using your wristwatch, the sun and a thin stick. Even though this method to find your direction is not very accurate, Boy Scouts swear by it! Astronomers, explorers and other professionals however, do not deem this method as very reliable, and would need to use more precise equipment for more accurate readings. Find out for yourself how accurate this method of finding true north is in the following science experiment:

- Sometime during the day, hold your arm with your wristwatch out horizontally with the face of your watch facing directly up. A digital watch will not work!
- Hold up any thin stick, such as a toothpick, vertical to the face of the watch, in the centre.
- Now, turn your body and the watch horizontally until the shadow of the stick is directly along the hour hand of the watch.
- True north will be more-or-less in the middle between the shadow of the toothpick, and the 12 hour mark!
- Do this several times a day and compare your results with a magnetic compass, to see how close it is to true north.