Path of least resistance

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. 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 physics, the 'path of least resistance' is a heuristic from folk physics 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) 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.