In class, my professor was talking about force at the top of a structure finding its way down through certain members to the ground. If those members were to fail, other members which had not previously carried that load, would translate the force down to the ground instead through a different means.

I thought this was fascinating and compared it a circuit. As charge leaves a battery, it applies a force in the wire, a force which finds the easiest path to get to the ground or to the other side of the battery. If one route becomes unavailable or simply too tough, the current takes a different path.

Then I considered a single living cell surrounded by fluid with changing pressure and how that must be translated through the cell wall and its various structures without harming the cell. That pressure has to find the least resistant path to communicate force through the structure.
Lastly I thought about a military unit applying a force to another military unit and how that force must be translated through and then out of the unit. That opposing force must also find the easiest path through the unit.

Just thought that was interesting. Cross train your brain,
-CG