Moving Electrical Energy The energy stored in a capacitor is located in the space between the plates of the capacitor. The energy stored in an inductor is located in the space around coils of wire. In both cases there is very little energy stored in the conductors. When energy is moved from a capacitor, the charges must move. This is current. When there is current, there is a magnetic field. When energy is taken from an inductance, the change in field produces a voltage that can be sensed in any nearby loop of wire. This means there is an electric field present when the magnetic field changes. From these two statements we have shown that both the electric and magnetic field must change when energy is removed. In fact, the energy moves in the fields. Nothing else is changing. We cannot have a world that follows different rules at different times. This means that electrical energy always moves in fields. It may surprise you that the power delivered to the city from generators actually travels in fields. These fields are in the space between the power conductors. The conductors are there to provide a guide or pathway for the energy to flow. Wires do not carry energy. They only direct where it can go. When you close a switch and draw energy to turn on a lamp, the energy must come all the way from the generator. How does the generator find out this power is needed? A wave must travel on the power lines from the switch back to the generator. Only when this wave reaches the generator does the generator know to put out more power. Here is an interesting analogy. When a rock is thrown into a pond of water. the water level must eventually rise over the entire pool. The waves caused by the rock are the only mechanism that carries this energy to the entire pond. In our world, waves carry energy. It is that simple. The energy that flows from the battery to the lamp in a flashlight travels in the space between conductors, not in the wires. It is hard to grasp this fact but it is true. In our digital world, the signals that carry logic move on traces between devices. To be accurate, the waves travel between the traces and a nearby conducting plane. These signals are waves that carry energy and information. It is impossible to tell by looking whether a wave is carrying energy or information. They are the same. Without this viewpoint it is easy to misunderstand nature and the way she works.

Moving Electrical Energy

The energy stored in a capacitor is located in the space between the plates of the capacitor. The energy stored in an inductor is located in the space around coils of wire. In both cases there is very little energy stored in the conductors.

When energy is moved from a capacitor, the charges must move. This is current. When there is current, there is a magnetic field. When energy is taken from an inductance, the change in field produces a voltage that can be sensed in any nearby loop of wire. This means there is an electric field present when the magnetic field changes. From these two statements we have shown that both the electric and magnetic field must change when energy is removed. In fact, the energy moves in the fields. Nothing else is changing.

We cannot have a world that follows different rules at different times. This means that electrical energy always moves in fields. It may surprise you that the power delivered to the city from generators actually travels in fields. These fields are in the space between the power conductors. The conductors are there to provide a guide or pathway for the energy to flow. Wires do not carry energy. They only direct where it can go.

When you close a switch and draw energy to turn on a lamp, the energy must come all the way from the generator. How does the generator find out this power is needed? A wave must travel on the power lines from the switch back to the generator. Only when this wave reaches the generator does the generator know to put out more power. Here is an interesting analogy. When a rock is thrown into a pond of water. the water level must eventually rise over the entire pool. The waves caused by the rock are the only mechanism that carries this energy to the entire pond. In our world, waves carry energy. It is that simple.

The energy that flows from the battery to the lamp in a flashlight travels in the space between conductors, not in the wires. It is hard to grasp this fact but it is true. In our digital world, the signals that carry logic move on traces between devices. To be accurate, the waves travel between the traces and a nearby conducting plane. These signals are waves that carry energy and information. It is impossible to tell by looking whether a wave is carrying energy or information. They are the same. Without this viewpoint it is easy to misunderstand nature and the way she works.