DC power transported by two infinite parallel wires

Abstract

This paper presents the calculation of the electrical power transported by the electromagnetic fields of two parallel wires carrying opposite DC currents. The Poynting vector is developed in bipolar coordinates and symbolically integrated over different surfaces. For perfectly conducting wires, the purely longitudinal power in the space surrounding the wires is shown to be equal to that which is produced by the battery (and consumed by the load resistor). For resistive wires, the longitudinal power transported by the fields is shown to diminish according to the distance traveled, and the loss is proved to be equal to the power entering the wires via the fields at their surfaces.