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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/m 2 ); kg/s 3 in base SI units.
The members of the algebra may be decomposed by grade (as in the formalism of differential forms) and the (geometric) product of a vector with a k-vector decomposes into a (k − 1)-vector and a (k + 1)-vector. The (k − 1)-vector component can be identified with the inner product and the (k + 1)-vector component with the outer product. It is ...
where: is the rate of change of the energy density in the volume. ∇•S is the energy flow out of the volume, given by the divergence of the Poynting vector S. J•E is the rate at which the fields do work on charges in the volume (J is the current density corresponding to the motion of charge, E is the electric field, and • is the dot product).
So, dimensionally, the Poynting vector is S = power / area = rate of doing work / area = ΔF / Δt Δx / area , which is the speed of light, c = Δx / Δt, times pressure, ΔF / area.
For waves in a birefringent (doubly-refractive) crystal, under the old definition, one must also specify whether the direction of propagation means the ray direction (Poynting vector) or the wave-normal direction, because these directions generally differ and are both perpendicular to the magnetic vector (Fig. 1).
In the tensor calculus formulation, the electromagnetic tensor F αβ is an antisymmetric covariant order 2 tensor; the four-potential, A α, is a covariant vector; the current, J α, is a vector; the square brackets, [ ], denote antisymmetrization of indices; ∂ α is the partial derivative with respect to the coordinate, x α.
The Poynting vector = represents the direction and magnitude of the power flow in the electromagnetic field (the length of the vectors shown here are not to scale; only the direction is being shown) In the region of space around the battery, the Poynting vectors are directed outward, indicating that power flows out from the battery into the ...
The Poynting vector for a wave is a vector whose component in any direction is the irradiance (power per unit area) of that wave on a surface perpendicular to that direction. For a plane sinusoidal wave the Poynting vector is 1 / 2 Re{E × H ∗}, where E and H are due only to the