Finding North & Telling Time

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Finding North Without a Compass

Cloud Movement

You can use the cloud movement to find out in which direction North is as clouds on Taviana always blow from the West to the East. So if you stop and stare at the sky for a while, the direction from which the clouds are traveling is West and the direction towards which they are traveling is East.

Example 1:

If the clouds are traveling from left to right it means that the left side is West,the right side is East so by going straight you will go to the North and by going back you will go South.

Example 2:

If the clouds are traveling from right to left it means that the left side is East, the right side is West so by going straight you will go to the South this time and by going back you will go to the North.

Finding North Using a Watch

Finding North using a watch is tricky, but once you get the hang of it this trick is indispensable.

• First find a watch and a tall thin object such as a lamp post, pole, electric pylon etc...
• Stand beside the object in such a way so that the hour hand on the watch follows the line of the shadow but so that the tip of the hour hand points to the direction where the sun is.

• Now you will need to imagine a line which goes from the hour which is exactly in the middle of 12 o'clock and the hour that the hour hand is showing. If the hour hand is between 12 and 6 o'clock, on the right hand side of the watch you will have to find the number between 12 and 6. If the hour hand is between 6 and 12 o'clock on the left hand side of the watch you will need to find the number between 6 and 12. The direction in which that line is pointing away from the middle number is North.

Example 1:

In this example the sun is in the bottom right corner. The hour hand is aligned to the shadow being cast by the pole. The hour hand is on 4 o'clock. The middle number between 4 and 12 o'clock is 2 o'clock. hence the imaginary line starts at 2 o'clock, goes through the middle of the watch and come out through 7 o'clock showing us the direction to North.