Chapter 1407: Compass

The Compass that Baifeng made was simply having the Artisan polish some relatively fine Magnetite, grinding it into a needle, and then piercing a hole in the middle; the outer casing was made by a Carpenter, with a surface of Glass.

If it were back when Huaxia was destitute and poverty-stricken, even if Baifeng had obtained Magnetite, he wouldn't have been able to make such a refined Compass, and might have even made it in separate parts—taking the magnetic needle out when needed and setting it on a wooden point, or using mica flakes or Gypsum flakes with fewer impurities to replace the Glass.

But now it is different; Huaxia has the materials it should have, and the finished product is relatively exquisite and durable. The Glass is also glued tight with animal glue. The biggest risk is that the Glass might shatter; after all, Huaxia lacks the ability to produce Glass with high toughness and hardness, so it is just plain, ordinary Glass.

There aren't many complicated things on the dial, only a few scale lines, the four cardinal directions, and then some more detailed lines, so that everyone can judge their direction more accurately and avoid small errors.

Baifeng has already tested it himself, and he even assembled it with his own hands. Each one can accurately point to the north and south ends, which, for people who need to work in the wild all year round, is an item as important as a Weapon.

Without a Compass, everyone could only rely on their own intuitive perception and some geographical features to make judgments, but once they encountered cloudy or rainy days, it was fine in familiar places, but in unfamiliar places, they would immediately lose their sense of direction and not know where to go.

Everyone took the Compasses and crowded together in twos and threes to look at them, peering left, right, up, and down. They truly didn't see anything special, only discovering that the thing in the middle would sway incessantly, but if held steady, the needle would always relatively point in the original direction.

The first person to discover the trick took the Compass and spun around in place, only to find that while they had turned and the compass in their hand had turned, the needle inside had not.

He froze for a few seconds, then stomped his foot: "Oh! I know now!"

Everyone hurriedly looked at him, asking one after another in a jumble: "Know what? What is it? Tell us, tell us quickly!"

He looked directly at Baifeng: "King, is this thing used to point out directions?"

Baifeng nodded with gratification: "That's right, it is used to point out directions. I call it a Compass; North-pointing Needle is also fine, and of course, it can also be called a mariner's compass."

Hearing Baifeng's words, everyone hurriedly lowered their heads to look at the Compass again, and combined with the cardinal directions, they discovered that the needle indeed pointed north at one end and south at the other; no matter how they moved, it remained the same.

This discovery made everyone start cheering. The importance of this thing, to everyone, was self-evident—it was too important!

And those who hadn't touched a Compass yet were anxious: "Quick, let me see it too, I haven't seen it yet!!"

Baifeng smiled and pressed his hands down, letting everyone quiet down first: "Don't be anxious, let me tell you the principle behind this."

Everyone immediately quieted down; the voices of those clamoring to see the Compass also vanished, though their hands did not stop moving.

"This thing is made from the Magnetite we discovered. Magnetite has magnetism; so-called magnetism is the property of being able to attract Iron. I can't explain more to you, just understand it this way."

"Magnetism, magnetism, understood, understood..."

Baifeng couldn't explain it to them too thoroughly, just like learning Mathematics; some theories you learn in Middle School might be overturned in high school, and what you learn in high school might not be the truth in university, but the underlying logic can still be used. It is mainly for ease of understanding, otherwise, it is easy to lead people into a dead end.

"Besides attracting Iron, magnetism can also point out directions. The reason is that in the places where we live, at the extreme north and extreme south positions, there are things with greater magnetism. You don't need to consider what those things are; you only need to know that they also have magnetism, the greatest magnetism, great enough to attract these Magnetites."

Magnetite also has two ends, one positive and one negative, one yin and one yang. The same sides repel each other, and you cannot press them together; as for the opposite sides, you don't need to use force, and they can attract each other."

"So I made the Magnetite into these two ends, one end attracted by the north and one end attracted by the south, so it can always point out the direction like this."

"In the future, when you dig for Magnetite, you might also encounter such situations, so don't be confused, it is all normal. However, it will not attract copper or gold; in the future, when you go mining, you cannot use Ironware. You should have discovered this when you were mining."

The people who discovered the mine nodded wildly below, saying to others around them: "That's right, that's right, we were the ones who discovered that this Iron Ore would attract our hammers and Chisels, which is why we thought it was strange."

There were quite a few people in the team that discovered the Magnetite; after all, a prospecting team couldn't just have one or two people. But Baifeng could only pick a few people with the greatest merit, allowing them to enter the Chaotang as non-officials.

They were, after all, the central figures, and they had merit, so such matters required their participation. Furthermore, future extraction would have to rely on them. Only three people were brought in here; each one was to be enfeoffed and granted a surname by Baifeng, and the others in the same team also received generous rewards. After all, this discovery was too important for Huaxia.

"But this thing might not always be usable forever. It might become inaccurate after some years of use, and then become completely useless, because the magnetism will also disappear."

"But now that we know of the existence of Magnetite Mines, we must extract them in large quantities. Magnetite is not only for making Compasses, but it can also be used to collect Iron Sand; this has already been verified."

"If we can obtain enough Magnetite, then everyone can have one. If you walk around the riverbank outside for two laps every day, you will be able to collect a lot of Iron Sand. With so many people in all of Huaxia, the Iron Sand collected in one day might be more than what our Huaxia Bao year extracts from Iron Ore and refines."

Baifeng's words were the most explosive. Although Baifeng didn't know the specific numbers—after all, everything can only be said after actual verification—now was the time to boost morale, tell everyone this good news, and bring everyone's enthusiasm for mining Magnetite to the highest level.

Everyone was very concerned about matters of Iron; after all, Iron was almost one of the foundations of Huaxia's state, basically equal in importance to food. Discovering a way to collect Iron in larger quantities was as exciting as hearing that a new grain variety with several times the yield had been cultivated.