my magnet

[claymore]

I have a small magnet it is about 10mm in diameter and the same thickness ,it is for its size extremely powerful.I have had it for over 30 years and it is still as strong as the day I found it. I started to wonder ...is magnetism a form of energy, if so, how does my little magnet generate such energy and will it always be as powerful or do magnets lose their magnetism over time?

[fo3nix]

No, it's not really a form of energy (in some sense, anyway).

All materials are made from atoms, which themselves include electrons whizzing round in orbits (a simplified view, but it'll suffice). Each electron is in effect a little magnet.

In most materials, there are enough electrons and atoms, in enough random configurations, that they cancel out their overall magnetic properties.

Some materials are susceptible to an external magnetic field, so that under a magnetic field all their electron spins align to a certain direction, turning into a magnet. This is a paramagnet.

Some materials stay aligned like this even without an external magnetic field (such as your magnet, whatever material it may be). This is a ferromagnet.

Now, are you aware that heat is simply the amount of jiggling energy that something does? If you jiggle a lot, you'll get warm (why we shiver in the cold, for example). Same with atoms too.

But, this material that stays magnetic without an external source of magnetic field, like your magnet, is like that because all the spins align, as I said above. But applying heat to this will make them jiggle and go random, which means that their spins with become randomly aligned, and they'll no longer be a magnet (as explained above too).

So, to remove the magnetic properties, you can simply heat the material.

In the absence of heat or external magnetic field to remove the magnetic properties, your magnetic will stay like that.

[gen2]

Magnetism is not energy, it is a force, just like gravity is a force.

The energy that you may be associating with magnets is a form of potential energy. When you pull your magnet off a piece of iron, it is your energy that is used up (not the magnet) just as when you pick up a stone against the pull of gravity.

Yes, magnetism can diminish with time through impacts or through high temperatures but as long as you treat it with care it should last for many more years.