You might think that a spoon is a common utensil used for scooping food! However, that’s not the case. It is actually an important invention by the Chinese.
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The oldest compass is an important invention by the Chinese |
It is the oldest compass. This record for the most ancient compass is held by the Chinese. The compass has the shape of a ladle filled with small magnetic particles, known in Chinese as the “magnetic needle,” which dates back to the Han Dynasty (2nd century BC).
The ladle is placed on a thin bronze plate called a taijitu or polar diagram, which is divided into eight sections, allowing for the determination of 24 different directions based on the constellations divided along the equator. Typically, the Big Dipper is chosen as the center of this bronze plate.
Chinese alchemists discovered that magnetite has directional properties when freely suspended. However, they did not fully understand why it consistently pointed in a specific direction.
During the Tang Dynasty in the 7th to 8th centuries, the Chinese learned how to magnetize an iron object by rubbing it with a magnetized object and dipping it in water. They also observed that during the cooling process, metal rods needed to be aligned in a specific direction.