EasyScience
"I guided explorers across unknown oceans without a single star to follow. I am ancient yet still used today. I have no engine but I have pointed the way to every continent. What am I?"
Answer
A Compass
Explanation
The magnetic compass was invented in China and transformed exploration. Sailors used it to navigate when clouds obscured the stars. Despite being thousands of years old, compasses remain in use today.
This is an easy riddle in the Science category — Riddles about physics, space, biology and the laws of the universe.
Tags:historynavigationscience
✦
More Science Riddles
Keep going — other riddles in this category:
- I shine brightest in the dark. I have burned for billions of years yet you can cover me with your thumb. I am enormously far away yet I guide sailors home. What am I?
- I grow full then thin then disappear then return again. I light the night but I make no light of my own. I pull the ocean but I cannot touch it. What am I?
- Everyone sees me every day but nobody can look directly at me. I rise every morning and die every night yet I never truly disappear. What am I?
- I measure how hot and cold the world is but I never feel it myself. I rise when others suffer and fall when they are relieved. What am I?
- I attract some things and repel others. I am strongest at my ends. I have an invisible force yet I am made of metal. What am I?
- I weigh everything without opinion. I am the symbol of justice and the tool of the trader. I have two sides but I always seek balance. What am I?