Escape the Amazon

In order to reach safety, you have to get back to base camp which lies East.
In your kit you only have these materials:
- A bowl of water
- A sewing needle or paperclip
- A magnet
Can you engineer a way to find your base camp through the dense Amazon jungle?
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INTRODUCTION
The aim is to try make a working compass from materials that you can find at home. The tricky part of this project is to work out how to make a needle float on water. You will learn about magnetism, navigation, magnetic poles, physics and forces.
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WHAT YOU'LL NEED
A bowl (non-metallic) of water, a steel needle or paperclip, a tissue paper and a flat fridge magnet (rare earth magnets or straight bar magnets work best)
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QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT
How and why the needle acts as a compass? Why does the needle get magnetised?
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ACTIVITY REFLECTION
What went well? What didn’t go so well? What would you do differently next time?
We’d love to see the outcome of your design – send pictures to outreach@tedi-london.ac.uk