Please help me out with this confusion !?

The expression "Take the path of least resistance" is not a scientific one, it refers to people making a choice between several courses of action. Even then it isn't strictly true because some people are more willing to endure hardship and pain than others in order to achieve a goal.

It does not apply to electrical resistance.

Least resistance path is preferred for the current to flow , is the correct notion .

Current will flow through all paths, but more current will flow through the ones with lesser resistance. Note that if a person is one of the paths, it does not take much current to kill a person. There is circuitry called Ground Fault (in the United States) which can interrupt the path to the source, if it detects enough current not flowing through the intended path. These are usually installed on outdoor circuits and circuits near water sources (like kitchens and bathrooms).

EDIT

Luckily I noticed your comment: "Then in the case of short circuit...why current does not flow in the longer path and take the shorter path."

The answer is that some current *does* take the longer (higher resistance) path. But the amount is tiny compared to the current passing through the short circuit path.

Refer to your diagram: https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:AN...

The short circuit path will have a very low resistance, e.g. 0.001ohms.

The normal path (bulb) will have a much higher resistance, e.g. 10ohms.

Using these figures, you see the normal resistance is 10,000 times bigger than the short circuit resistance (because 10/0.001 = 10,000).

With the short circuit, the total resistance (0.001 ohms in parallel with 10 ohms) is slightly less than 0.001 ohms. This allows a very large current to flow (which blows the fuse in your circuit).

However, not *all* the current flows through the short circuit route.

For example, if 100A flows through the short circuit, the current through the bulb is 10,000 times smaller, which is only 100/10,000 = 0.01A.

Most people would say all the current goes through the short circuit. But this is technically wrong - though it's a good approximation to what really happens.

END EDIT

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To say "current takes the path of less resistance" is an oversimplification. It is partly true, but misleading.

Look at the circuit in the link below. The two resistors (R1 and R2) are in parallel so they have the same voltage.

The current has two paths it can take to flow round the circuit (from one side of the battery to the other). Current can pass through R1 and/or R2.

Suppose R1 is 1ohm (low resistance) and R2 is 5ohms (higher resistance).

The path of 'less resistance' is through R1. So what happens?

Answer:

The current splits.

*Most* of the current takes the path of less resistance through R1.

The remaining current takes the path of higher resistance through R2.

Since R2 is 5 times bigger than R1, the current through R2 is 5 times smaller than the current through R1.

For example if the battery supplies 6A, then 5A will pass through R1 and only 1A will pass through R2.

It is technically false.

V=IR (voltage = current * resistance)

in a parallel circuit, the voltage (along the different paths) stay the same, so if there were X paths of different resistance, the current would be different along the X paths to make the voltage the same.

Depending on how you view "resistance" either may be correct.

In electronics resistance has a precise meaning.

V = I R

with this definition SOME current takes every single possible path.

More current in some paths and less in others.

So you could not say that ALL current takes the path of least resistance.

If you are viewing resistance more according to the public view where resistance is a force that impedes movement then a small portion of current arriving at a point will "choose" which path to take.

Whichever one has the lowest impeding effort will be the one chosen.

In this way the current automatically balances out so that the effort required is the same no matter which path is followed.

The individual piece of current DOES take the path of least "resistance".

ie volts are the same in each branch of a parallel circuit.

Current flows in least résistance path.

Take a parallel circuit. It has two resistors one million ohms and 1 ohm

If you messire the current in each 99.999 will be in the 1 ohm résistance path