This makes enough sense, but what about a similar situation?
Let's say in deep space, you have two magnets. They are initially stuck to each other (north to south). You then spend X amount of energy to pull one of the magnets *very* far away.
You then melt the remaining magnet, thus...
So I've bounced this question off a few physicists that I respect highly - my professors, and even a founding member of the Perimeter Institute here in Canada. None of them had a definite answer, however.
My question is this: What happens to the stored elastic potential* energy of a spring or...