Joule Thief

[MarkE]

I guess this would be considered a shorted coil, the magnetic field would never collapse.

No the coil is not shorted.  It works a lot like the other circuits.

[Dave45]

I think we need to not forsake electron flow, I couldnt understand why the pnp setup didnt just run to ground, why it lit the led at all, now I understand the electron doesnt run to ground they continue to circulate in the coil.

[Dave45]

The electron path, current may run to ground but the electron takes an alternate path

[MarkE]

I think we need to not forsake electron flow, I couldnt understand why the pnp setup didnt just run to ground, why it lit the led at all, now I understand the electron doesnt run to ground they continue to circulate in the coil.

Dave, you keep posting one circuit after another.  What are you looking for in comments when you do this?  I think you should at least say what problem you've found or are worried about with one circuit before moving to the next circuit.  This latest circuit doesn't make any sense at all.  What are you trying to do?  What specific idea do you have that you want to pursue that you think or hope this circuit will manage that the earlier circuits you've posted this week won't?

Things that you should keep in mind:

Inductors resist changes in current.  Wherever you connect an inductor to a transistor or other kind of switch you need to plan a path for the current to continue when the transistor or other form of switch turns off that will not develop a voltage that will harm the transistor or switch that you are trying to turn off.

This latest circuit will develop current in the middle winding when the PNP transistor is on.  When it turns off, the center winding will flyback without anything to maintain the current.  The voltage will swing negative until the PNP transistor avalanches.  Do that a few times and the PNP transistor will be destroyed.

If you turn the NPN transistor on, first it is configured as a common collector so it will drop at least 0.7V, more typically 1V.  Then more voltage will drop going through the diode and then the middle winding to the negative battery terminal.  When you try to shut off the NPN transistor the coil connection to the emitter will swing negative until the emitter is far enough below the base that the transistor continues to conduct.  As the energy in the coil's magnetic field dissipates, the NPN will turn off.

[MarkE]

The electron path, current may run to ground but the electron takes an alternate path

Dave this latest drawing of yours does show correct electron flow convention current.