Question

What will be the angle of dip at the equator?
$\begin{aligned} & A.0{}^\circ \\\ & B.45{}^\circ \\\ & C.60{}^\circ \\\ & D.90{}^\circ \\\ \end{aligned}$

Answer 1

Angle of dip is otherwise called the magnetic dip and it can be described as the angle which has been created by the magnetic field lines of earth with the horizontal surface of earth. The angle of dip will not be a constant and will be different from point to point by giving the data which is related to the movement of the magnetic field of earth. This will help you in answering this question.

Complete step by step solution:
The angle which has been made by the lines of force with the surface of earth at any particular place is known as the Angle of Dip. This angle has been varied from $0$ degrees at the magnetic equator to $90$ degrees at the magnetic poles virtually. As we can see the lines of force around the magnetic equator of the Earth will be perfectly horizontal. So the magnetic needle will be perfectly lying horizontally there. Therefore, the angle of dip at the magnetic equator of the Earth can be found to be as low as $0$ degrees. This has been mentioned as option A.

Therefore the correct answer will be option A.

Note:
The angle of dip is found to be positive if the magnetic field is pointing downwards. The angle of dip is said to be negative if the magnetic field is pointing upwards. The angle of dip will be $0{}^\circ$ if the dip needle is kept horizontally while the angle of dip will be $90{}^\circ$ if the dip needle is kept vertically. If the horizontal component and the vertical component of the magnetic field of earth will be equal then the angle of dip will be equivalent to $45{}^\circ$.