ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Davis quadrant

Hey there kiddo! Do you know how sailors find their way when they are out at sea and there is no land in sight? No? Let me tell you a secret - they use something called a Davis Quadrant!

A Davis Quadrant is like a special kind of tool that sailors use to help them measure the height of the sun in the sky. You see, when you look up at the sun, it looks really big and you can't really tell how far away it is, right? Well, sailors need to know exactly how high the sun is in the sky so they can figure out where they are on the ocean.

The Davis Quadrant has a little telescope that the sailor looks through to see the sun. Then they use a special little tool that moves up and down to measure the angle between the sun and the horizon (that's the line where the ocean meets the sky).

Once they know the angle between the sun and the horizon, the sailor can use some special math and charts to figure out their exact location on the ocean! Pretty cool, huh?

So the next time you see a sailor out at sea, remember that they are using tools like the Davis Quadrant to help them navigate and find their way home.