Tried to read about this but it all goes over my head. If anyone wants to ELI5 why magnetic forces do no work, that would be great :)
IIRC it depends on the frame of reference. Relative to a magnetic field, the only thing a magnetic force does is changing the velocity direction of affected objects. All work regarding the absolute magnitude of the velocity is zero (no lateral acceleration).
When you hold two strong magnets an inch apart, then let them go it looks like they move themselves (add velocity)?
What makes the magnets start moving towards each other from a complete stop?
It’s usually said about a charge under a magnetic feild. The magnetic force goes perpendicular to the direction of motion of the charge(F=q*v×B). Work is done only if the force is applied along the direction of motion. So on a moving charge, magnetic force does no work.
Not sure how that plays on magnets though. Magnets are magnetic because electrons go in circles producing the feild, and it might be because electric feild comes in and do the work but it’s not clear for me either
I just did a quick read on it on it. “Work” is the application of force over time in the direction the object is moving. Pushing a shopping cart for example is work, because you have to constantly apply force to it.
From what I’ve read, it seems that magnetic force doesn’t do work because it doesn’t apply force in the direction the object moves. Magnetic force only “deflects” or changes the direction of an object with an existing velocity. It’s only a deflection because the force applied is always perpendicular to the direction of the velocity.
To use the previous shopping cart example, picture a shopping cart that already has a forward velocity that passes a magnet. The magnet only applies a force to the side of the cart towards the magnet. This doesn’t push the cart itself, but changes the direction of its velocity towards the magnet.
But that’s true of gravitational forces too, otherwise satellites wouldn’t have constant speed. It’s silly and misleading to say that magnetic forces do no work. If I turn an electromagnet on next to a spoon, the spoon will move and the magnetic force did some work.
Gravity does no work on satellites or objects that go in circular orbits. The force is there but it does no work and hence no energy change/transfer. Work is defined based on energy change by work-energy theorem
