1

Starting from my secondary school, I have never understood the concept of short circuits. For instance, why would current prefer a path with no resistance than a path with much resistance? How does it know or decide that that there is much resistance in the one path and no resistance in the other? I know I am imagining current as a person that has his own will. But what is the physics behind it? None of my teachers were able to give me a satisfying answer so far and it really bugs me.

Huzo
  • 1,013
  • 1
    see http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/33621 http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/5670 http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/74368 http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/69919 http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/7936 etc. – AccidentalFourierTransform Jan 17 '17 at 15:15
  • oh okay. Could not find duplicates before posting. I will delete – Huzo Jan 17 '17 at 15:16
  • Because the conservation of energy says there's no reason to give up energy traversing the higher resistance path if you don't have to. – Randy Zeitman Oct 29 '18 at 22:04

0 Answers0