A freely suspended magnet always points in the north-south direction even in the absence of any other magnet. This suggests that the earth itself behaves as a magnet which causes a freely suspended magnet (or magnetic needle)to point always in a particular direction : north and south.The shape of earth’ magnetic field resembles that of a bar magnet of length one-fifth of earth’ diameter ** at its centre.
The south pole of earth’ magnet is towards earth’ north pole (geographical north), while the north pole of earth’ magnet is towards earth’ south pole (geographical south). Thus, there is a magnetic -pole near the geographical north, and a magnetic N-pole near the geographical south.The positions of the earth’ magnetic poles are not well defined on the globe, they are spread over an area.
