Which ways south?

Question

i need ot know which wa is south

Answer 1

opposite of north.

Answer 2

Look towards the west and  turn to your left.

Answer 3

1) In the northern hemisphere South is roughly where the sun is at 12:00. But you have to correct the time if your watch is showing daylight saving time. (If there is for example 1 hour of time differ-ence to "normal" local time, then the sun passes the meridian at 1:00 pm).

In the southern hemisphere its the other way round. The sun passes the meridian in the North.

Of course this is only an approximation, because sun time which is irregular differs from local time which is regular for our convenience. And there is the problem that your local time is equal for the whole time zone which is roughly an area 15° of longitude wide.

So if you want to know it more correctly than you have to find out where the sun has its highest elevation. When the sun reaches its highest point it is passing through the meridian. When it passes the meridian then the sun is exactly to your South.

To find out the highest point you could observe the shadow of a vertical post. Where it is shortest during one day (round about 12:00) there is North as seen from the post. South is to the opposite direction.

Important: Never try to look directly at the sun with a telescope or something similar. This would ruin your eyes for ever in an instance!!!

2) An other possibility would be the use of a compass. The problem with compasses is that they show the location of the magnetic North pole which is not identical with the rotational pole. But there are maps that show the difference between the two different North directions for a given area.

3) You could also use a large scale map (1:50000, 1:25000 or larger) in which you can identify your position. Then identify an object in the map which is exactly to the South of your position. Of course this must be an object (a mountain, a tower, ...) which you can also see in reality from your position.

4) The easiest but more expensive and more boring way of finding South is to buy a handheld GPS tool or a car navigation system that can do the job for you.