So I was wondering about if you hold up a magnet using a retort stand(or anything actually) and let a paper clip or something get attracted. But what is the energy being converted into the KE and GPE for the paper clip to move up? I asked my teacher but he said answering me will make me confused but I’m still too curious.
In: Physics
There’s an electromagnetic potential energy between two magnets which are separated, this is reduced by bringing the magnets closer together – in a similar way to the gravitational potential energy between a mass and the earth (another mass).
If the electromagnetic potential energy is strong enough, you can use one magnet to lift another (assuming the higher one is fixed on a crane or something), because it will be able to turn that electromagnetic energy into kinetic and then gravitational potential energy (with a little lost as heat)
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