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> only those that leave out parts that are essential to the discussion.

I have yet to see a single physics analogy that covers every single aspect of the physics without being misleading. If the maths is easy enough to follow without needing an analogy, you just get the maths.

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They don’t have to cover every single aspect, only those that are relevant to the discussion. The analogy with water in tubes for electricity is not an oversimplification when you explain relationships between voltage and current in a resistance. It only becomes an oversimplification when you try to explain, say, electromagnets.

Water tubes thus cannot explain AC skin effect, inductance.

Which isn’t relevant to the discussion in the example.

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