Question

The marked end of a compass needle always points directly to
(A) Earth’s geographic south pole
(B) Earth’s geographic north pole
(C) A magnet’s the South Pole
(D) A magnet’s the North Pole

Answer 1

Hint: Magnetic field lines outside a permanent magnet run from the north magnetic pole to the south magnetic pole. Hence, the magnetic field lines of the earth run from the southern geographic hemisphere to the northern geographic hemisphere. The magnetic South Pole is the geographic North Pole of earth.

Complete step by step answer:
The marked end of a compass needle always points directly to the magnet's South Pole.
A magnetic compass does not point to the geographic North Pole. A magnetic compass points to the earth's magnetic poles, which are not the same as the earth's geographic poles. Also, the magnetic pole near earth's geographic North Pole is actually the south magnetic pole. When it comes to magnets, opposites attract. It means the north end of a magnet in a compass is attracted to the south magnetic pole, which lies close to the geographic North Pole.

$\therefore $ Hence, Option (C) is correct.

Note:
(i) The geographic north and south poles indicate the points where the earth's rotation axis intercepts the earth's surface. Consider holding a tennis ball between your thumb and forefinger and pushing on the side to make it a spin. The points where your thumb and finger make contact are the geographic north and south poles of the tennis ball's spin.
(ii) Earth's geographic and magnetic poles are differently aligned as they arise from different mechanisms.
(iii) Earth's magnetic poles constantly change location relative to earth's geographic poles. Earth's magnetic poles represent the central location of the region where the magnetic fields lines start and finish.