How does a magnetic compass work? Well, it’s all down to basic physics and human ingenuity. The key component of a standard baseplate compass is its magnetized needle, which is allowed to spin freely within a housing. As the needle is magnetized, the north arrow always points towards the Earth's magnetic north pole, while its other end points to the south pole.
It’s elegantly simple and all baseplate compasses work in this way. However, things get a little more complicated when factors like magnetic variation come into play, which we’ll get into later in this guide.
