There is a large magnet and a small magnet on a smooth table surface. The large magnet is slowly moved closer to the smaller magnet until the magnetic field causes the small magnet to slide across the table and hit the large magnet. Where did the energy come from to move the small magnet? I know that energy cannot be created or destroyed but instead converted from one form into another. So energy was taken from one source and converted to some kind of work energy to move the magnet. Where was the energy taken from? What energy source has been depleted?
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The magnets create a magnetic field and always attract/repel each other. Between any two magnets anywhere in the universe, you can calculate the potential energy they have between them. It’s no different than two electrically charged objects attracting/repelling each other or two objects with mass attracting each other gravitational. By simply being an object that interacts with a magnetic field, it has a potential energy in that magnetic field.
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