NudeDiver
Contributor
Sure they are. Much as a screw is simply an inclined plane wrapped around a cylinder.You can cut paper with a knifeor a pair of scissors or an axe, but no one would ever class axes and scissors as "kinds of knives".
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Sure they are. Much as a screw is simply an inclined plane wrapped around a cylinder.You can cut paper with a knifeor a pair of scissors or an axe, but no one would ever class axes and scissors as "kinds of knives".
As I have ementioned many times before, there is no such thing as a "digital" compass. It is a digital readout for a miniature compass. It still uses a magnetic needle to align itslef to the earth's magnetic field as every compass eve built for the past 3 thousand years.
A digital compass is actually *quite* distinct from your classic magnetic compass. In your classic magnetic compass, you have a small movable magnet which aligns itself with the local magnetic field. A digital compass, on the other hand, takes advantage of the fact that charged particles moving through a magnetic field are deflected in a direction normal to both the direction of the magnetic field and the direction of motion of the charged particles. (Actually, this is the same phenomenon that classic cathode ray tube televisions made such amazing use of.)As I have mentioned many times before, there is no such thing as a "digital" compass. It is a digital readout for a miniature compass. It still uses a magnetic needle to align itself to the earth's magnetic field as every compass eve built for the past 3 thousand years.
The magnetic field of the classical compass can be significant. It has to be strong enough to quickly move a needle -- more often, an entire compass card (as the disc with markings is called). Having two such compasses near each other can *certainly* pose a problem. On the other hand, there is no such issue with the *minuscule* magnetic field caused by the tiny currents in the computer. (If they had an electromagnet strong enough to affect an SK-7, the battery life would be on the order of *minutes*. :biggrinThe two magnetized needles, one from the digital compaas and one from the "analogue" compass, will be attracted to each other rather than swing in the earth's magentic field.
You can see what happens when you put two normal compasses together. The same thing will likely happen with the Viper2 in the same console as the compass. The result: you're really going to get lost!
Hopefully, I've done at least a little to help clear up your misunderstandings. Electronic compasses are certainly not useless (although I prefer the better visual feedback and usability of my SK-7). Calling them "potentially dangerous" is untenable (especially when we strap virtual bombs to our backs and tempt fate every dive ). Of course, if you have an SK-7 mounted adjacent to a computer with a digital compass, the digital compass is not usable, so I will concede that minor sub-point. (The regular old magnetic compass is completely unaffected, of course.)With any luck, this generation of computers will be the last one we see with this useless, and potentially dangerous, device embedded.