He Doesn't Know Where Santa Is

"Duh!", you say. "Santa's at the North Pole. Everybody knows that." 

But...wait a minute. Which North Pole are you talking about? 'Cause there's more than one. 

Most people simply know about the geographical north and south poles which we imagine as going straight up and down through the earth (because obviously there isn't a real pole sticking out of our planet). Some people may even know about the magnetic north and south poles, which are at an angle to the geographical poles.  This is the north that magnets and compasses point towards, and varies each year in location: in fact, they have moved around so much over time that 730 000 years ago, the magnetic north pole was in fact very close to the geographical south pole!*


This difference is important if you are navigating with a compass, because the compass leads you based on the magnetic north pole, not the geographical one, so you may end up somewhere slightly different than you were aiming for (the difference is also important in physics and the study of MAGNETISM). 


Maybe you have already noticed something wrong with this picture (or if you're like me, you never questioned it until now) : how come the north pole of a magnet points towards and attracts the magnetic north pole if like poles repel? 

Actually, because like poles repel and opposite poles attract, the magnetic north pole is physically the south pole of the earth, and the physical north pole is the magnetic south pole. Confusing, but in a way that makes sense. 


So after all this, is Santa really at the North Pole? Well...he is  at the geographical North Pole, and near the magnetic North Pole, but he's nowhere near the physical North Pole. So the answer is: yes and no. :]


*Scientists found this out by looking at the orientation of magnetic particles like iron trapped in rock from hundreds of thousands of years ago.


Question: Why does the Earth act like a huge magnet?
Theoretical answer: The liquid iron outer core of the Earth rotating against the mantle causes the Earth to have a magnetic field.


Sources: http://www1.appstate.edu/~goodmanj/4401/notes/magnets/mnvsgn.html
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