jesusofnasareth

Imagine an iron cube with a weight of 1N on the floor. It has zero gravitational potential energy (GPE). If I lift it 1m up, it will have 1J of GPE, and I will have done at least 1J of work in order to lift the block. However if I use a fixed magnet fixed 1m above the ground (NOT an electromagnet) and the block is lifted up 1m the block gains 1J of energy, but the magnet has not done any work. Where does the energy come from as it can neither be created nor destroyed as we all know.

Imagine an iron weight of 1N sat on a bench. It has zero energy. If it is then attracted to a fixed magnet, 1m above the bench, the weight would now have 1J of gravitational potential energy. Energy is nether created nor destroyed so where did this energy come from?