Photon Motion, the Poynting Vector, and Field Collapse – Part 5

Introduction

From the standpoint of everyday electrical engineering, applying Poynting theory to practical circuit analysis can seem like a very silly idea. In most situations, it adds unnecessary complexity, offers no practical benefit for design, and risks confusing students or engineers who are simply trying to work with voltage, current, and resistance.

However, from the standpoint of fundamental physics, Poynting theory is not only valid — it is essential. It provides a window into how energy actually flows in and around electrical systems. It reveals that current and energy propagation are not confined to the wires themselves, but arise from deeper field interactions.

For this reason, I strongly encourage research scientists and theorists to study Poynting’s framework thoroughly. It holds important clues to the nature of charge, field propagation, and the medium through which all electromagnetic phenomena take place — insights that may one day reshape how we understand matter, energy, and motion.

What Wires Actually Do

Wires do not carry energy — they guide and shape the field medium so that energy can propagate effectively. They allow us to stabilize, phase-lock, and interface with the field, but the actual transmission of energy occurs in the space around them, as directed by the surrounding field configuration. Wires define the geometry of the fields, anchor charge behavior, and serve as the interface between external control and field response. They are not passive channels but structured environments that enable controlled phase propagation.

DC Current as Field Phase Propagation

Even in the case of direct current (DC), the underlying mechanism of energy propagation is field-based. While electrons do drift slowly through a conductor, the energy and influence of the current propagate at nearly the speed of light. This indicates that current is not the motion of electrons but the result of a cascade of local field reconfigurations — a stepwise ripple of field phase that travels through the conductor.

In this model, the electric field in a DC circuit is not static but a rotating field phase that continues to push forward, much like how a photon propagates through free space. The difference is that in a conductor, this phase propagation is compressed and structured by the material properties of the wire.

Rethinking Current: The Virtual Charge Boson

Current is traditionally measured in amperes, defined as the amount of electric charge passing a point per second. This has long been interpreted as electrons physically moving through the wire. But in this field-based model, electrons play a minimal role in actual energy transfer.

Instead, current is seen as the propagation of charge through a field-based entity — a virtual particle-like configuration — which we might call a virtual charge boson. This boson is not a physical particle but a stable structure in the field, a rotating phase pattern that carries charge from one place to another.

The virtual charge boson travels through the wire in a stepwise manner, reconfiguring the field as it moves. It behaves like a soliton or a localized pulse of electric phase — a structured rotation of the field that maintains its shape and direction as it propagates.

This explains why current appears to flow quickly, even though electrons barely move. What flows is not matter but field rotation. The amperes we measure may be counting how many of these virtual charge bosons pass a point per second, not how many electrons.

Current as Field Regeneration in the Conductor

In agreement with the Poynting theory, we can reframe electric current as a process of field regeneration, rather than the movement of individual charged particles.

When an electric charge moves through a conductor, it creates a magnetic field around the wire. This is a well-known and measurable effect. But what happens when that magnetic field collapses — for instance, when the current stops or changes direction?

According to the Poynting theory, that collapsing magnetic field induces a new electric field. In this model, that induced electric field isn't just a side effect — it is a re-creation of the original charge influence, reappearing slightly displaced along the conductor. In other words:

The magnetic field temporarily stores the energy of the moving charge, and when it collapses, it releases that energy back into the medium as a new electric phase — effectively regenerating the charge's influence further along the wire.

This cycle — electric field creating magnetic field, magnetic field regenerating electric field — forms a kind of stepwise pulse that carries energy and charge without requiring any actual particles to travel far. It behaves much like the field-pulse motion of a photon.

What this suggests is profound:

• The conductor is a medium, not just a passive channel.
• The medium itself supports field-based charge regeneration, step by step.
• Electric current is not a flow of material electrons, but a propagating sequence of field phase transitions.

This interpretation fits seamlessly with the earlier concept of the virtual charge boson: a rotating field configuration that maintains the characteristics of charge as it travels. What we observe as current is actually a field-based phenomenon — and the conductor is the structured space in which this rotational energy propagates.

Conclusion

In this article, we’ve challenged the conventional view of current and voltage by exploring the idea that electric current is not a flow of electrons but a field-based process — a stepwise rotation and regeneration of electromagnetic phase.

We proposed that:

• Wires act as field guides, not charge pipelines.
• Even DC current propagates like a photon, through discrete field phase shifts.
• Current may be carried by a virtual charge boson — a rotating field configuration.
• In agreement with Poynting theory, a collapsing magnetic field can regenerate the electric charge that created it, reinforcing the idea that conductors are active mediums.
• Finally, while Poynting theory may not be practical for engineering work, it holds critical value for theoretical physics.

Together, these ideas represent a shift in perspective — away from particles moving through wires, and toward fields rotating through structured space. They open the door to new questions, and possibly, new technologies.

References

• Part 1 – Photon Motion, the Poynting Vector, and Field Collapse
• Part 2 – Photon Motion, the Poynting Vector, and Field Collapse
• Part 3 – Photon Motion, the Poynting Vector, and Field Collapse
• Part 4 – Photon Motion, the Poynting Vector, and Field Collapse
• James Clerk Maxwell’s Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism
• J. H. Poynting, “On the Transfer of Energy in the Electromagnetic Field” (1884)