Need directions

[jasen]

you are a prisoner in a huge jail. All prisoner will be executed in the morning next day. Fortunately No guard there. Suddenly in midnight a prisoner can break his cell. and take all keys. But he will not free and let others escape with him, except there is someone can tell  directions (south, east, north or west), because wrong directions means recaptured. Nobody can read star for directions. You see a clock on the wall ticking, and your execution time get closer.

What should you do to know the right direction?

[BMAD]

Take the clock so that I can use time of day to know direction

[Luna]

Doesnt Sun consider as  a star?

[BMAD]

It does, but I am reading by clock and not the sun.

[The_unbeliever]

Doesnt Sun consider as  a star?

Well, it's nighttime, so you shouldn't see the Sun.
The Sun is a star indeed, and it didn't occur to me the moon is not a star. Supposedly you could deduce the cardinals from the hour and the moon position?

[jasen]

Doesnt Sun consider as  a star?

Well, it's nighttime, so you shouldn't see the Sun.
The Sun is a star indeed, and it didn't occur to me the moon is not a star. Supposedly you could deduce the cardinals from the hour and the moon position?

In the night you can't use sun as guidance.

Unfortunately no astronomer between the prisoners,
nobody could deduce the cardinals from the hour and the moon position.
You see arround, wheather there are tools you can use.
But you only can find electric lamp, hanging photo, and the working clock.

1st clue : use component from the clock.

[TimeSpaceLightForce]

a battery, a piece of copper wire and a ferrous pointer might be inside the clock ? then maybe a prisoner with glass of water can help..

[jasen]

 

Hidden Content

Hidden Content

Right !

You can create a compass from a battery, copper coil, a nail, and thread.

1. take a battery, and coils from the clock.
2. take a nail from wall. (to hang a clock, we need a nail).
3. get thread from your cloth.
4. create magnet. http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Magnet-With-a-Wire-and-a-Nail 
5. using right hand rule to find south and east. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-hand_rule
6. Find center ballance, and hang the magnet using thread.

now you know direction.

 

[Luna]

It does, but I am reading by clock and not the sun.

How you will understand the directions with a clock only?I thought you meant that you will use the clock and the sun to figure it out that;s why i asked,But since sun is a star and it is night ,i cant be

Doesnt Sun consider as  a star?

Well, it's nighttime, so you shouldn't see the Sun.
The Sun is a star indeed, and it didn't occur to me the moon is not a star. Supposedly you could d uce the cardinals from the hour and the moon position?

I only asked because the person above me said that she would take the clock to use the time of day to figure out the directions,But the sun is a star ,you cant understand the directions ,because prisoners cant read stars.

[BMAD]

Mentally draw a line that connects the horns of a crescent moon and then extend this line down to the horizon. In northern latitudes this will give an approximate indication of south. It works best when the moon is high in the sky and not too near the horizon, when significant errors are possible.

The reason this method works is not very complex. The sun and moon move across the sky in an east-west plane. In other words when they are not aligned (a new moon) then they are roughly either east or west of each other. Since the moon reflects the sun’s light, its bright side will be ‘pointing’ to the direction of the sun, ie. approximately east or west. The line that joins the horns of a crescent moon together is at right-angles to this east/west line and any line that is perpendicular to an east/west line must be a south/north line. 

If accuracy is needed, then there is only one method that can be used with the moon, but be warned it is not fast and can seriously dent your sleeping time. All celestial objects – sun, stars, planets and moon – arc across the southern sky when viewed from northern latitudes. They all reach their highest point in the sky when they cross your meridian or line of longitude and this will occur when they are exactly due south of you. In other words the moon will be highest in the sky when it is due south from the UK. The best way of working out when a bright object is at its highest point in the sky is by watching and marking shadow tips. It does not need to be a full moon, only a moon that is bright enough to cast a shadow. The curve that joins the tips of the shadow over an evening will make clear when the shadow is shortest and this will be a perfect north-south line.

The moon will of course rise and set very roughly in the east and west, but working out exactly what direction the moon is rising or setting is fiendishly complex. There are some simple rules worth knowing. For example, a full moon will behave in the opposite way to the sun, in the UK it rises close to southeast in midsummer and northeast in midwinter, setting southwest in midsummer and northwest in midwinter.

Taken from: http://www.naturalnavigator.com/find-your-way-using/moon 

Edited October 3, 2015 by BMAD

[jasen]

Mentally draw a line that connects the horns of a crescent moon and then extend this line down to the horizon. ........

Taken from: http://www.naturalnavigator.com/find-your-way-using/moon 

OK, if there is crescent moon outside, this is one of the answers.

[BMAD]

Mentally draw a line that connects the horns of a crescent moon and then extend this line down to the horizon. ........

Taken from: http://www.naturalnavigator.com/find-your-way-using/moon 

OK, if there is crescent moon outside, this is one of the answers.

If there is a moon out period, this works.  The clock will orient you to the appropriate angle needed to use the second method.