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The path of least resistance is the physical or metaphorical pathway that provides the least resistance to forward motion by a given object or entity, among a set of alternative paths. The concept is often used to describe why an object or entity takes a given path. The way in which water flows is often given as an example for the idea.
In
The path of least resistance is the physical or metaphorical pathway that provides the least resistance to forward motion by a given object or entity, among a set of alternative paths. The concept is often used to describe why an object or entity takes a given path. The way in which water flows is often given as an example for the idea.
Description
In physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
, the "path of least resistance" is a heuristic
A heuristic (; ), or heuristic technique, is any approach to problem solving or self-discovery that employs a practical method that is not guaranteed to be optimal, perfect, or rational, but is nevertheless sufficient for reaching an immediate, ...
from folk physics
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
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** Folk art
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** Folk hero
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*** Folk metal
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Arts, entertainment, and media
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that can sometimes, in very simple situations, describe approximately what happens. It is an approximation of the tendency to the least energy state. Other examples are "what goes up must come down" (gravity
In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...
) and "heat goes from hot to cold" ( second law of thermodynamics). But these simple descriptions are not derived from laws of physics and in more complicated cases these heuristics will fail to give even approximately correct results.
In electrical circuits, for example, the current always follows all available paths, and in some simple cases the "path of least resistance" will take up most of the current, but this will not be generally true in even slightly more complicated circuits. It may seem for example, that if there are three paths of approximately equal resistance, the majority of the current will flow down one of the three paths. However, due to electrons repelling each other, the total path of least resistance is in fact to have approximate equal current flowing through each path. The reason for this is that three paths made of equally conductive wire will have a total resistance that is one-third of the single path. In conclusion, the current is always distributed over all possible paths inversely proportional to their resistance.
The path of least resistance is also used to describe certain human behaviors, although with much less specificity than in the strictly physical sense. In these cases, resistance is often used as a metaphor for personal effort or confrontation; a person taking the path of least resistance avoids these. In library science and technical writing, information is ideally arranged for users according to the principle of least effort
The principle of least effort is a broad theory that covers diverse fields from evolutionary biology to webpage design. It postulates that animals, people, and even well-designed machines will naturally choose the path of least resistance or "effo ...
, or the "path of least resistance". Recursive navigation systems are an example of this.
The path of least resistance applies on a local, not global, reference. For example, water always flows downhill, regardless of whether briefly flowing uphill will help it gain a lower final altitude (with certain exceptions such as superfluids and siphon
A siphon (from grc, σίφων, síphōn, "pipe, tube", also spelled nonetymologically syphon) is any of a wide variety of devices that involve the flow of liquids through tubes. In a narrower sense, the word refers particularly to a tube in a ...
s). In physics, this phenomenon allows the formation of potential wells, where potential energy
In physics, potential energy is the energy held by an object because of its position relative to other objects, stresses within itself, its electric charge, or other factors.
Common types of potential energy include the gravitational potentia ...
is stored because of a barrier restricting flow to a lower energy state.
See also
*Calculus of variations
The calculus of variations (or Variational Calculus) is a field of mathematical analysis that uses variations, which are small changes in functions
and functionals, to find maxima and minima of functionals: mappings from a set of functions t ...
* Mountain pass theorem The mountain pass theorem is an existence theorem from the calculus of variations, originally due to Antonio Ambrosetti and Paul Rabinowitz. Given certain conditions on a function, the theorem demonstrates the existence of a saddle point. The th ...
* Principle of least action
* Variational principle
* Gradient descent
* Natural lines of drift Natural lines of drift are those paths across terrain that are the most likely to be used when going from one place to another. These paths are paths of least resistance: those that offer the greatest ease while taking into account obstacles (e.g ...
* Desire path
References
{{Reflist Calculus of variations it:Meccanica classica#Principio di minima azione