Photon Motion, the Poynting Vector, and Field Collapse – Part 4

How Energy Moves Without Charge Transfer

In many electrical circuits — especially those involving capacitors in series or transformer windings — it looks as though something mysterious is happening. Energy is clearly being transferred, voltages build up, and currents appear, even though no actual electrons seem to move through certain parts of the circuit.

Take capacitors in series, for example. The inner plates of the capacitors aren’t connected to a battery or power source, and no current flows directly through them. Yet somehow, they end up with equal and opposite charges, as though they’ve been actively charged.

Or consider transformers: the primary and secondary coils are completely separate — no electrons flow from one to the other. Yet when current flows in the primary, voltage appears in the secondary, and energy is transferred.

How is this possible?

The answer lies in the Poynting vector, which describes how electromagnetic energy moves through space. According to this view, energy doesn’t travel through the wire itself, but through the space around the wire, guided by the configuration of the electric and magnetic fields.

When you apply voltage to a circuit:

• Electric and magnetic fields form in the space surrounding it.
• These fields don’t just sit there — they interact, and the energy flows in the direction of \( \vec{E} \times \vec{B} \), described by the Poynting vector.
• This flow can reach and energize parts of the circuit without any direct charge transfer.

So, in the capacitor example:

• The field lines from the battery spread through the space, not just the wires.
• The energy flows around the circuit and builds up electric field pressure on the inner plates.
• The inner plates acquire charge not because electrons moved across them, but because the fields have been reconfigured.

In a transformer:

• The changing current in the primary coil creates a changing magnetic field.
• This in turn induces a circulating electric field in space.
• That electric field drives current in the secondary coil — again, with no need for charge to move across the gap.

From the perspective of this field-based model:

• The circuit doesn't transfer particles — it transfers field phase, or energy configuration.
• What appears to be charge movement is actually field re-alignment under pressure from external sources.
• And the energy flows invisibly — not inside the copper, but through the surrounding field.

This isn’t just a clever reinterpretation. It’s a different way of thinking about electricity — one that could help explain effects like induction, voltage buildup, and non-contact energy transfer without invoking mysterious “action at a distance.”

Continue reading Part 5