- #1
Xyius
- 508
- 4
One thing that always puzzled me was that to me, magnets seem to violate the law of conservation of energy. They obviously do not, and it is purely my ignorance that is allowing me to think this, but I need some explanation as to why they don't. What I mean by this is the following..
Say you have two magnets a distance "d" apart. If you slowly inch one magnet closer to the other by amount dx, there is a point where the magnet will pull the other magnet in. Therefore, would it be reasonable to say the magnet does work on the other magnet? Where did the energy come from to pull the other magnet in? It surely did not come from you, since you only gave the first magnet enough work to move it a small distance dx closer to the magnet.
I have an explanation I patched together and I would like to know how accurate it is, if at all.
Would it be perhaps that when these two magnets were first magnetized, an amount of energy went into them to align the dipole moments in the atoms. This energy was stored in the magnetic field of the magnet and it is THIS energy that it uses to pull the other magnet in. By this logic, then the magnet would eventually lose its magnetism over time, which is true correct?
How much of this, if any is correct? If its not, can anyone provide an explanation?
Thanks!
Say you have two magnets a distance "d" apart. If you slowly inch one magnet closer to the other by amount dx, there is a point where the magnet will pull the other magnet in. Therefore, would it be reasonable to say the magnet does work on the other magnet? Where did the energy come from to pull the other magnet in? It surely did not come from you, since you only gave the first magnet enough work to move it a small distance dx closer to the magnet.
I have an explanation I patched together and I would like to know how accurate it is, if at all.
Would it be perhaps that when these two magnets were first magnetized, an amount of energy went into them to align the dipole moments in the atoms. This energy was stored in the magnetic field of the magnet and it is THIS energy that it uses to pull the other magnet in. By this logic, then the magnet would eventually lose its magnetism over time, which is true correct?
How much of this, if any is correct? If its not, can anyone provide an explanation?
Thanks!