A thin, long piece of a magnet is placed on a cork and allowed to float on water. In which direction does it point?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → North-South
Floating on the cork, the magnet is free to turn in a horizontal plane, just like a freely suspended magnet. The earth behaves as a magnet. Its field points roughly from the geographic south to the north. So the floating magnet comes to rest along the north-south direction, with its north pole towards the geographic north.
NCERT (2026-27):
Introduction – “(i) The earth behaves as a magnet with the magnetic field pointing approximately from the geographic south to the north. (ii) When a bar magnet is freely suspended, it points in the north-south direction. The tip which points to the geographic north is called the north pole and the tip which points to the geographic south is called the south pole of the magnet.”