Feynman explains that the incoming energy “can’t enter the space between the plates from that direction (i.e. along the wires), because E is perpendicular to the plates; E x B must be parallel to the plates.” (27-7) This principle is general, because E, B, and S are the vectors for electromagnetic waves, and are always mutually orthogonal. This means that the energy we see radiating from an incandescent light bulb or an electric heater comes not from the current in the filament, but from the space surrounding the filament. The resistance in the filament that causes it to heat up is due to many microscopic “capacitors” in the structure of the filament that suck in energy from the surrounding field and heat up the filament. When the filament glows, the energy radiates back out to where it came from. The filaments in such devices are not very efficient at storing and releasing heat compared to atomic hydrogen.

Feynman was a genius clown. He knew more than he said or was allowed to say, so he would set up an argument, leak a clue or an insight, and then shut up. I quote from his “Field Energy” lecture at length, because this passage is a rare moment when Feynman suddenly opens up and tells it like it really is – but then, anticlimactically, he adds a final paragraph to obfuscate the issue. This final paragraph that I put into bold face type may have been ordered by the editors and his political handlers so that students would only be mildly amused by his statements and not shaken to the very foundations of their perceptions of reality. Read carefully what he says. The comments in brackets [. . .] are added by me.

“When we are charging a capacitor, the energy is not coming down the wires; it is coming in through the edges of the gap. That’s what the theory says!

“How can that be? That’s not an easy question, but here is one way of thinking about it. Suppose that we had some charges above and below the capacitor and far away. When the charges are far away, there is a weak but enormously spreadout field that surrounds the capacitor. Then, as the charges come together, the field gets stronger nearer to the capacitor. So the field energy which is way out moves toward the capacitor and eventually ends up between the plates.

“As another example, we ask what happens in a piece of resistance wire when it is carrying a current [e.g. the filament in a light bulb or electric heater]. Since the wire has resistance, there is an electric field along it, driving the current. Because there is a potential drop along the wire, there is also an electric field just outside the wire, parallel to the surface. There is, in addition, a magnetic field which goes around the wire because of the current. The E [electric field vector] and B [the magnetic field vector] are at right angles; therefore there is a Poynting vector [the photon energy vector S] directed radially inward, as shown in the figure. There is a flow of energy into the wire all around. It is, of course, equal to the energy being lost in the wire in the form of heat. So our “crazy” theory says that the electrons are getting their energy to generate heat because of the energy flowing into the wire from the field outside. Intuition would seem to tell us that the electrons get their energy from being pushed along the wire, so the energy should be flowing down (or up) along the wire.

Finally, in order to really convince you that this theory is obviously nuts, we will take one more example – an example in which an electric charge and a magnet are at rest near each other – both sitting quite still. Suppose we take the example of a point charge sitting near the center of a bar magnet, as shown in Fig. 27-6. Everything is at rest, so the energy is not changing with time. Also E and B are quite static. But the Poynting vector says that there s a flow of energy because there is an E x B that is not zero. If you look at the energy flow, you find that it just circulates around and around. There isn’t any change in the energy anywhere – everything which flows into one volume flows out again. It is like incompressible water flowing around. So there is a circulation of energy in this so-called static condition. How absurd it gets!

Perhaps it isn’t so terribly puzzling, though, when you remember that what we called a “static” magnet is really a circulating permanent current. In a permanent magnet the electrons are spinning permanently inside. So maybe a circulation of the energy outside isn’t so queer after all.

“You no doubt begin to get the impression that the Poynting theory at least partially violates your intuition as to where energy is located in an electromagnetic field. You might believe that you must revamp all your intuitions, and, therefore have a lot of things to study here. But it seems really not necessary. You don’t need to feel that you will be in great trouble if you forget once in a while that the energy in a wire is flowing into the wire from the outside, rather than along the wire. It seems to be only rarely of value, when using the idea of energy conservation, to notice in detail what path the energy is taking. The circulation of energy around a magnet and a charge seems, in most circumstances, to be quite unimportant. It is not a vital detail, but it is clear that our ordinary intuitions are quite wrong.” [bold-face type by D.A. White]

What Feynman tells us is that E, B, and S form a holistic structure by which we define our 3D space/time information storage system. Space and Time are relative to the observer who defines them. If you have a concern about energy resources, you had better perk up and listen carefully to what Feynman says instead of relaxing into the assumption that “it is not a vital detail”, or else you may be thoroughly obfuscated.