<h2>Compass Directions</h2>
<p>We can use compass directions when appropriate to specify the direction of a vector. For example, if we were describing the forces of tectonic plates (the sections of the earth's crust that move) to talk about the forces involved in earthquakes we could talk the force that the moving plates exert on each other.</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 800px"><img alt="" height="546" src="https://data.ulearngo.com/assets/483894ea-5fb5-4780-9d00-1715f365d975" width="800"/><p class="wp-caption-text">A map of the 15 major tectonic plates that make up the Earth's crust.</p></div>
<p>The four cardinal directions are North, South, East and West when using a compass. They are shown in this figure:</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 480px"><img alt="" height="512" src="https://data.ulearngo.com/assets/4c7a94ad-57ae-4ae5-ac52-d50f4740a9bd" width="480"/><p class="wp-caption-text">A sketch of the compass directions.</p></div>
<p>When specifying a direction of a vector using a compass directions are given by name, North or South. If the direction is directly between two directions we can combine the names, for example North-East is half-way between North and East. This can only happen for directions at right angles to each other, you cannot say North-South as it is ambiguous.</p>
<h2>Bearings</h2>
<p>Another way of using the compass to specify direction in a numerical way is to use bearings. A bearing is an angle, usually measured clockwise from North. <strong>Note</strong> that this is different to the Cartesian plane where angles are anti- or counter-clockwise from the positive \(x\)-direction.</p>
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Compass Directions and Bearings

Physics is a science discipline concerned with the nature and properties of matter and energy. Physics topics include mechanics, heat, light and radiation, sound, electricity, magnetism, the structure of atoms, and so on.

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Discover the principles and operations of scalars and vectors such as graphical and algebraic techniques of vector addition, finding magnitude with Pythagoras theorem, and resultant force on a submarine.


Compass Directions and Bearings

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