A question about magnets

[JamesF]

My son is revising for his GCSE mocks at the moment and this lunchtime asked me a question which I am completely unable to answer, so I thought I'd offer it to a wider audience

He asks: "If an object starts moving as a result of being attracted to a magnet, where has the kinetic energy gained by that object come from?  Has something else lost energy (so that energy is conserved), and if so, what, and how?"

James

[Captain Scarlet]

My guess would be is that it's "potential energy". When the object and the magnet were initially placed where they were, the work was done which imbued the object with said magnetic potential. Similar to climbing some stairs against gravity and stopping at the top, you imbue yourself with gravitational potential: if the stairs are suddenly removed, or a rung breaks, that energy is converted into kinetic energy.

Magnus

[Ben the Ignorant]

 

[RolandKol]

Found some nice explanations,

maybe it will help
https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/69400/does-a-magnet-contain-and-potentially-produce-energy

[Tiki]

4 hours ago, JamesF said:

 

He asks: "If an object starts moving as a result of being attracted to a magnet, where has the kinetic energy gained by that object come from?  Has something else lost energy (so that energy is conserved), and if so, what, and how?"

James

As Captain Magenta says, potential energy. The objects initial potential energy ( this PE being a consequence of it's initial position relative to the magnet) is converted to kinetic energy as the object 'falls' towards the magnet.

[JamesF]

Thank you.  I shall pass the youtube links on to him (and have a watch myself too

James

[JamesF]

Ok, I've watched the first video a couple of times now and my brain is beginning to run out of my ears...

James