Why does the compass never point to the south pole?
A compass does not point to the south pole because the north point is aligned to the north pole. However, for an accurate reading, you should get a compass designed for the “magnetic zone” you are in. A compass designed to work in the northern hemisphere will probably not be accurate in the southern hemisphere. http://www.wide-screen.com/Suunto/zoneInfo.
The reason for the compass not pointing to the south pole is that you are looking at the compass in magnetic Norh. Magnetic North being Noth of the equator. Now if you were to travel below the equator your compass would point to magnetic south. This magnetic phenomena happens because that at each pole North and South are magnetically charged making the needle in your compass to point to the magnetic poles.
It is a matter of convention. The people who invented maps lived in the norther hemisphere. So, the north pole was more important to them than the south pole. When Earth’s magnetic field was discovered and compasses were invented (again by northerners), they naturally made the arrows to point north. However, in reality, one end of the needle also points points to the south.
