this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2026
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While we're at it, is a compass needle's North pole actually a South so that it points North? Or is the Earth's North pole actually South so that the needle's North pole points to it?
(I know that I could look this up, I just want to confuse people.)
But that's by design, while this is a convention problem
We decided on North long before we discovered magnetism. But the magnet poles of the earth flip from time to time so ehhh.
The needle used to be called the north seeking needle. It is magnetically south