Electric current tends to take the path of what?

• A. Highest Resistance
• B. Lowest Resistance
• C. Medium Resistance
• D. Zero Resistance

Answer: (B)

Electric current tends to take the path of least resistance. Charge carriers move from higher potential to lower potential and will naturally choose the route where opposition to their flow is smallest. In circuits with multiple parallel paths, the current splits so that more flows through the path with lower resistance and much less through higher-resistance paths. If one path has very low resistance, it will carry a larger share of the current, while a path with high resistance carries less. A path with zero resistance isn’t typical in real circuits and would imply unrealistic, unlimited current; that’s why the path of least resistance—lowest opposition to flow—is the correct description.