ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area The path of least resistance

Sorry have to disagree with you on this one.
I think the statement is a very good one from a beginner’s point of view.

Put yourself in teacher’s shoes and try this

Explain current flow being negative to positive?
Describe what an Amp actually is?
Describe alternating current?
How does a fuse work?

How many pages of explanation did you write? Where did you start? Where did you stop your explanation?

The amount of explanation is relative to the level of understanding required.

We need to nurture our students not bamboozle them with science. Start too deep an explanation and you will loose the student and he will not come back. He may be there physically but he is not interested any more. You need to get them hooked on the subject, start your explanations of simply and as understanding grows, expand on your explanations.

I have looked at other forums on the net and I like this one best. The contributors come across as mature, experienced tradesmen. But please do not loose sight of your roots. We just as all had to learn to walk, learn to drive a car, we all were apprentices once upon-a-time.

Ken how is it complicated to tell students electricity will take all available paths?

You don't have to say more than that. No need to explain why to a beginner only that it does.

IMHO teaching them "electricity takes the path of least resistance" is just something they will have to 'unlearn' later.

Besides leaving them with the impression that it only takes the least resistive path is IMO dangerous.

Bob

"Second gripe: in a parallel path electricity flows through all paths regardless of resistance, and the flow is calculated by ohms law.
Electricity takes every path, not just the "path of least resistance"!!!!!"

And a darn good gripe, a good example is, years ago the meter socket neutral was not bonded, you had to install the bond jumper if needed, we used rigid pipe with service installations, back then, and we bonded the conduit.

Now most of the meter socket neutral lugs are bonded from the manufacture, ok for PVC or service cable, but think what you have when you use rigid with one of the bonded meter pans?

Good topic!

I also agree with Earl.

Ken, when teaching beginners I don't see any reason not to teach this, after all it is a simple function of Ohms Law which must be taught to and understood by the student.

In most instances this is actually how a GFCI and RCD (however I'm not hands on familiar with the latter) function in their design.

Roger

SOmeone help me out with a real life situation where using
this familar saying will hurt someone??

just curious, does anyone know where the saying" the path of least resistance" got started? I heard it in electrical school, and it was confusing when I got into more advanced concepts, looking and circuit diagrams and trying to apply that statement to what I was looking at. The other interesting concept mentioned earlier was electricity will try to return to ground. I was taught this as well, and it took a few years and a lot of time on ECN to get the whole " return to source" thing to sink in.
So remember, be careful how you explain these concepts, they are complex, but they are more confusing when the foundation information doesnt allow the student to understand the more advanced stuff.

It peeves me somewhat, too.
Learn it once, Learn it right.

Sometimes things are more easily understood by beginners when it's demonstrated by something non-electrical. Fill a cup with water, put a big and a small hole in it. Water flows out both of them. More out of the big hole than the small one. The concept is no more complicated than that.
Spinning an Ohm Wheel around in front of their eyes right off the bat will just make them dizzy.

I taught a 9 year old once about switches, wire sizes, and circuit breakers with a trail of ants that were walking on twigs, just replacing the word ants with amps. She learned the basic ideas in minutes, even understanding a crude 3way made of twigs. I was elated

I wish some customers could learn as well as she did.

[This message has been edited by electure (edited 12-06-2006).]

I'm not usually one to get hung up on this detail; maybe that's because I first learned "Murphy's Laws for Electricians."

These laws might read something like this:
1) If you test every wire but one, that one will be hot.
2) If you can grab any of several wires, you will grab the live one.
3) A $1000 TV set will sacrifice itself to protect a 5 cent fues.
4) Electricity is a malevolent thing, and will endlessly flow throug all the wiring, looking for a chance to zap you.
5) Expensive new wire cutters are better at finding live wires than old rusty ones.

And don't forget:

It will be the last circuit breaker you try after trying all the rest.

And why do people say: "it was in the last place I looked". Of course it was in the last place you looked because that's when you stopped looking!

You can always say that most electricity takes the path of least resistance. Conversely, the least electricity takes the path of most resistance. The least may be too much if you just happen to be that path least traveled.
Joe