In electrodynamics, Poynting's theorem is a statement of conservation of energy for the electromagnetic field, in the form of a partial differential equation, due to the British physicist John Henry Poynting. Poynting's theorem is analogous to the work-energy theorem in classical mechanics, and mathematically similar to the continuity equation, because it relates the energy stored in the electromagnetic field to the work done on a charge distribution (i.e. an electrically charged object), through energy flux.