The North Pole, in the Arctic, is the Earth's magnetic ___ pole.

The North Pole, in the Arctic, is the Earth's magnetic ___ pole.

• A. South
• B. North
• C. East
• D. West

Answer: (A)

Earth’s magnetism behaves like a bar magnet with two poles, and a compass responds to that field: the north end of a compass needle is attracted to the magnetic south pole. The region near the geographic North Pole is actually the Earth’s magnetic south pole, so the North Pole area is the magnetic south pole. East and West are just directions and don’t denote magnetic polarity, so they aren’t the correct description.

Earth’s magnetism behaves like a bar magnet with two poles, and a compass responds to that field: the north end of a compass needle is attracted to the magnetic south pole. The region near the geographic North Pole is actually the Earth’s magnetic south pole, so the North Pole area is the magnetic south pole. East and West are just directions and don’t denote magnetic polarity, so they aren’t the correct description.