Absorbing Capacity

Take a simple circuit:

9v battery --> diode --> resistor --> led --> ground 

all connected in series.

Now in this ckt, we know that the function of  the diode is to act as a valve, the resistor limits the current that is supplied to the led so that it does not burn out. That how's the conventional current flows right?

But the actual flow of electrons in the physical world is from the negative terminal to the positive terminal.
So the electrons actually reach the led first and then the resistor and so on.

Then how can the resistor influence the flow of electrons to the led if it actually lies after the led in the ckt?

Might sound like a silly but can get you stumped at times.

My search for an answer led to the following explanation and its pretty good too :

Most of us in our beginner classes would have been familiar with the comparison of resistance with a pipe in which water flows. Now we compare voltage as the suction capacity of the motor trying to lift water ( ie electrons) from a well to the surface. Irrespective of the width of the pipe, only a specific amount of water can the pulled up by the power of the motor.
Now if we placed a thinner pipe in the middle of two thicker pipes, the thinnest pipe is still going to determine the rate of flow of water through the system no matter how wide the other pipes.

The same explanation applies to the flow of current too. And hence we can say that the absorbing capacity (electron absorbing capacity) of the resistance is high and the highest absorbing capacity determines the max current in the system.