It seems like magnets have an enormous supply of energy. Where does a magnets energy come from? It almost seems like it has a never ending supply of it. Think of this thought experiment. A permanent magnet is suspended 1m away from the floor. A steel ball is placed onto the floor under the magnet - so its 1m away from the magnet. Let's say that the steel ball has a mass of 1kg. Let's also say that when it is placed onto the floor the magnet is strong enough to attract the ball all the way up to the magnet. Energy transferred by the magnet is work done which is force x distance and in this case it would be: weight x distance which is equal to 1J. So the magnet performed 1J of work. Let's say I repeat this experiment an infinite number of times (maybe that's a bit too much but you get the idea). Where does all this energy come from? Will it reach a certain number of steel balls before it can no longer do any more work? Thanks.