Poynting vector
Measure of directional electromagnetic energy flux / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Poynting vector?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
In physics, the Poynting vector (or Umov–Poynting vector) represents the directional energy flux (the energy transfer per unit area, per unit time) or power flow of an electromagnetic field. The SI unit of the Poynting vector is the watt per square metre (W/m2); kg/s3 in base SI units. It is named after its discoverer John Henry Poynting who first derived it in 1884.[1]: 132 Nikolay Umov is also credited with formulating the concept.[2] Oliver Heaviside also discovered it independently in the more general form that recognises the freedom of adding the curl of an arbitrary vector field to the definition.[3] The Poynting vector is used throughout electromagnetics in conjunction with Poynting's theorem, the continuity equation expressing conservation of electromagnetic energy, to calculate the power flow in electromagnetic fields.