If you place an non-magnetized piece of iron near a magnet, the piece of iron becomes magnetized.
Does the original magnet lose any of it's magnetic force in the process?
ps
On a quantum level, how much does it take to make the smallest unit magnetized?
Hi,
A permanent magnet is said to be NOT losing its magnetic force when it magnetizes other materials.
On your last question: it is difficult to judge, in the magnetization process when permanent magnets are made, huge current is passed suddenly through a hefty solenoid coil within which the body of the magnetizable material is placed and all the spins of the particles are meant to be aligned uniformly. (The huge current comes from a capacitor bank when they discharge it onto the coil.)
In this process you cannot really figure out how much energy is needed to influence just enough the "smallest unit", possibly each individual particle needs a little bit more energy to change its original spin position than what it possesses itself originally. Possibly you can find this energy data in textbooks on quantummechanics.
Gyula