what is magnetic north and what is the difference between magnetic north and the north pole? plz someone help?

Answer 1

The earth has a magnetic field around it. There is a point on the "top" and the "bottom" of the earth where these fields come together. This is the magnetitc north and south.

If the earth were perfectly straight up and down, the north pole and magentic north would be the same. However, the earth is tilted on it's axis. This tilting doesn't affect the magnetic poles, but it does affect what we call the north and south poles. This is why there are magnetic and normal poles, and why they aren't the same.

Answer 2

Fairbanks adventurer Roger Siglin has journeyed close to the magnetic north pole. Near Resolute, in the northern area of Canada now known as Nunavut, Siglin was 300 miles from the magnetic north pole, the wandering spot on Earth’s surface that attracts compass needles and confounds scientists.


There, his compass needle dipped like a divining rod over water.


“I had to tilt the compass quite a bit to keep the needle from hitting the face,” said Siglin, whose snowmachine odysseys have taken him thousands of miles in the high Arctic.


The magnetic north pole is now somewhere near Ellef Ringnes Island, approximately latitude 79 degrees north and longitude 106 degrees west. It won’t be there long. The magnetic pole migrates about 10 kilometers northwest each year. Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey say the magnetic north pole has strayed around the north for thousands of years, at one point dropping to the latitude of Anchorage.

Within Earth is a core that resembles a ball of molten iron and nickel slightly smaller than the moon. When the core rotates, the sloshing of molten iron and nickel produces an electric current, and with it a magnetic force. Ground zero for this force is the elusive spot known as the magnetic north pole.


In 1600, Sir William Gilbert, a doctor for Queen Elizabeth I, was the first to suggest Earth behaved like a giant magnet. In 1829, Sir John Ross commanded an expedition to find the North West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. He didn’t make it. Ice trapped his ship in Canada’s Arctic for four years. Before they were able to retreat to England, Ross’s nephew, James Ross, discovered the magnetic north pole.


When Norwegian Roald Amundsen found the same point during the first successful trip through the North West Passage 70 years later, magnetic north was 30 miles north of where Ross found it. Amundsen’s journey proved that the magnetic north pole moves. Scientists still aren’t sure why it moves, or even why Earth is similar to a giant bar magnet.


The magnetic north pole isn’t the same as the geographic north pole, the center of Earth’s axis. The discrepancy makes topographic maps a bit more confusing, requiring compass users to adjust for declination, the difference between geographic (true) north and magnetic north. Because the magnetic north pole is always changing, USGS updates its maps every five years. Most handheld GPS units adjust themselves automatically for declination, which varies wildly with location. In Fairbanks, for example, magnetic north is about 27 degrees east of true north. New York City is about 15 degrees west. On the island of Attu in the Aleutians, quirks in Earth’s magnetic field make adjusting a compass for declination unnecessary—true north there is the same as magnetic north.


The magnetic north pole’s constant movement assures the truthfulness of what James Ross wrote upon first discovering its location 168 years ago: “Nature had erected no monument to denote the spot which she had chosen as the center of one of her great and dark powers.”
The Geographic North Pole Lies at 90 Degree Latitude
The earth is home to two North Poles located in the Arctic region - a geographic North Pole and a magnetic North Pole.
Geographic North Pole

The northernmost point on the earth's surface is the geographic North Pole, also known as true north. It's located at 90° North latitude and all lines of longitude converge at the pole. The earth's axis connects the north and south poles, as its the line around which the earth rotates.

The North Pole is about 450 miles (725 km) north of Greenland in the middle of the Arctic Ocean - the sea there has a depth of 13,410 feet (4087 meters). Most of the time, sea ice covers the North Pole but recently, water has been sighted at the exact location of the pole.

If you're standing at the North Pole, all points are south of you (east and west have no bearing).

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Since the earth's rotation takes place once every 24 hours, if you're at the North Pole your speed of rotation is quite slow at almost no speed at all, compared to the speed at the equator at about 1,038 miles per hour.
The lines of longitude that establish our time zones are so close at the North Pole, the Arctic region uses UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) when local time is necessary at the North Pole. The North Pole experiences six months of daylight and six months of darkness.

Robert Peary, his partner Matthew Henson, and four Inuit are generally credited with being the first to reach the North Pole on April 9, 1909 many suspect that they missed the pole by a few miles. In 1958, the United States nuclear submarine Nautilus was the first vessel to cross the North Pole. Other attempts to reach the North Pole have been quite interesting. Today, dozens of planes fly over the North Pole using great circle routes between continents.
The Geographic North Pole Lies at 90 Degree Latitude
The earth is home to two North Poles located in the Arctic region - a geographic North Pole and a magnetic North Pole.
Geographic North Pole

The northernmost point on the earth's surface is the geographic North Pole, also known as true north. It's located at 90° North latitude and all lines of longitude converge at the pole. The earth's axis connects the north and south poles, as its the line around which the earth rotates.

The North Pole is about 450 miles (725 km) north of Greenland in the middle of the Arctic Ocean - the sea there has a depth of 13,410 feet (4087 meters). Most of the time, sea ice covers the North Pole but recently, water has been sighted at the exact location of the pole.

If you're standing at the North Pole, all points are south of you (east and west have no bearing).

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Since the earth's rotation takes place once every 24 hours, if you're at the North Pole your speed of rotation is quite slow at almost no speed at all, compared to the speed at the equator at about 1,038 miles per hour.
The lines of longitude that establish our time zones are so close at the North Pole, the Arctic region uses UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) when local time is necessary at the North Pole. The North Pole experiences six months of daylight and six months of darkness.

Robert Peary, his partner Matthew Henson, and four Inuit are generally credited with being the first to reach the North Pole on April 9, 1909 many suspect that they missed the pole by a few miles. In 1958, the United States nuclear submarine Nautilus was the first vessel to cross the North Pole. Other attempts to reach the North Pole have been quite interesting. Today, dozens of planes fly over the North Pole using great circle routes between continents.
Located hundred of miles south of the geographic North Pole lies the magnetic North Pole at approximately 82.7° North and 114.4° West (2005), northwest of Canada's Sverdrup Island. However, this location is not fixed and is moving continually, even on a daily basis.
The earth's magnetic pole is the focus of the planet's magnetic field and is the point that traditional magnetic compasses point toward. Compasses are also subject to magnetic declination which is a result of the earth's varied magnetic field. Each year, the magnetic North Pole and the magnetic field shift, requiring those using magnetic compasses for navigation to be keenly aware of the difference between magnetic north and true north. The magnetic pole was first determined in 1831, hundreds of miles from its present location