| 1) Imagine a line going straight down to the ground under the sun as if it "fell" out of the sky. Mark that point on your horizon. |  |
| 2) Now point the hour hand of your watch at the marked point. As an example, pretend it is 5:00 in the afternoon. | |
| 3) Half way between the hour hand to the
"12" on your watch is South. In the summer, go back to "1"
instead -- for daylight savings time.
In the afternoon, go "backward" to the half way point. in the morning, go "forward" to the half-way point. |
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| 4) North is exactly opposite! | |
| 5) Note: In the southern hemisphere, point the noon position on your watch at the sun and measure half way to the hour hand to get the direction to North. | |
| Why does this work? First, the middle of the day is at noon and this is adjusted around the planet using time zones. Second, the sun goes around the planet in 24 hours, while the hour hand on your watch goes exactly twice as fast. Thus, for every hour of time before or after noon, the clock has moved twice as far, so we cut the movement in half. Test this for yourself or do this thought experiment. At 1:00 PM, the hour hand has moved 1/12 of the way around the circle but the sun, only 1/24. twice as far as the sun | |