“If you are lost in the woods, and it is not a cloudy morning, how can you tell your directions without a compass?” asked the scoutmaster during the weekly meeting of a Boy Scout troop in northern Idaho. “Moss only grows on the north side of trees,” responded from one of the troop members. “Is that really always true?” probed the scoutmaster. There was a moment of silent doubt among the 12 wriggling boys. “That’s what I heard, somewhere,” came the hesitant reply. “Well, what if you see lots of trees and not all of them have moss on the same side?” Silence. “What about the Sun?” prompted the scoutmaster. Silence. “Come on now, you all know where the Sun rises each morning, don’t you?” Silence. Then a weak and unsure response came from the back of the room. “The Sun always rises in the east?” “And where does it set?” “In the west...I think,” said the young tenderfoot, a first-year scout. “Right!” said the scoutmaster. “So, if you see the Sun rise or set, you can tell true east or west. That means when we go on our campout this weekend., we’ll try to find out way without compasses by using the Sun.” The weekend came. All the boys went out to the campsite, set up their tents and prepared for a hike the next morning. It was a lovely early June morning, not a cloud in the sky, and the Sun came up with a beautiful golden glow on the horizon. “There it is boys,” said the scout leader, “And what direction is that?” “East?” the boys responded in unison. “Yep! And now let’s just check it out on the compass, so you know that it’s true.” Compasses came out of pockets and backpacks and there was a lot of moving around and pointing of the little instruments in all directions. There was also a lot of mumbling. “Whoops,” said one of the boys. “It looks like it is quite a bit north of east to me.” “Let’s see how you are reading that compass,” said the leader who brought his own compass over next to him and looked in the direction of the rising Sun. Then, he frowned. “Must be something
Assignment:
Pretend you are a local astronomer who the group has decided to consult and write up a COMPLETE answer, in your own words, to the Boy Scout Troop.
You must include:
Power Words - equinox, solstice, latitude, tilt, hemisphere
Give a detailed and simple response to the problem: Are the compasses and the scoutmaster wrong or is there another explanation?
Provide an easy to understand explanation of what IS happening. (Be sure to take into consideration their LOCATION and TIME OF YEAR)!
BONUS: How could the magnet within the compass be affecting their confusion?
