4 ms·
I haven't thought about it carefully, but since magnetic fields don't do work, my initial reaction to your example of iron near a magnetar is surprise. But, I
by evanb 9y ago
I haven't thought about it carefully, but since magnetic fields don't do work, my initial reaction to your example of iron near a magnetar is surprise. But, I also expect that the iron magnetizes in a strong field. Wouldn't that be lowering its energy (compared to an unmagnetized lump in a background field), however?
- ars 9y agoIt's not a conservation of energy question, obviously you would have to deal with the energy of getting it there in the first place. The question is once it's there: Do the magnetar and the neutron star see different masses for the lump of iron? Imagine the magnetar and the neutron star at the tips of an L, and the iron at the vertex.