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Kirchhoff's Laws
Current and voltage circuit laws

Kirchhoff's Laws quantify how current flows through a circuit and how voltage varies around a loop in a circuit.

Kirchhoff's current law (1st Law) states that the current flowing into a node (or a junction) must be equal to the current flowing out of it.
This is a consequence of charge conservation.
Kirchhoff's voltage law (2nd Law) states that in any complete loop within a circuit, the sum of all voltages across components which
supply electrical energy (such as cells or generators) must equal the sum of all voltages across the other components in the same loop.
This law is a consequence of both charge conservation and the conservation of energy.
 GCSE Kirchhoff's Current Law

Current flow in circuits occurs when charge carriers travel around the circuit. Current is defined as the rate at which this charge passes
any point in the circuit. A fundamental concept in physics is that charge will always be conserved. In the context of circuits this means
that, since current is the rate of flow of charge, the current flowing into a point must be the same as current flowing out of that point.

Figure 1: Three wires connected at a node with different currents travelling down each wire.

Kirchhoff's current law states that for the node in Figure 1, the currents in the three wires must be related by:

I1 + I2 = I3
​ ​ ​

It is important to note what is meant by the signs of the current in the diagram - a positive current means that the currents are flowing in
the directions indicated on the diagram. Directions are the direction in which any positive charges would flow, that is from the + of the
battery round the circuit to the −.

The standard way of displaying Kirchhoff's current law is by having all currents either flowing towards or away from the node, as shown
in Figure 2:

Figure 2: The same node as in Figure 1, but with the currents defined to be pointing inward. The values I1 , I2 , I3 can
​ ​ ​

be positive or negative.

Here, at least one of the currents will have a negative value (in the opposite direction to the arrows on this diagram) and Kirchhoff's
current law here would be written as:

I1 + I2 + I3 = 0
​ ​ ​

This can be generalised to the case with n wires all connected at a node by writing:

n
∑ Ik = 0 ​ ​

k=1

Quick Q1
What is the value of I in the circuit segment shown in Figure 3?

Figure 3: A circuit segment with five currents marked.

As charge carriers flowing through a circuit pass though a component, they either gain or lose electrical energy, depending upon the
component (cell or resistor, for example). This is due to the fact that work is done on or by them as a result of the electric forces inside
the components. The total work done on a charge carrier by electric forces in supply components (such as cells) must equal the total
work done by the charge carrier in other components (such as resistors and lamps) by the time it has gone round the circuit once. This
means that the sum of all potential differences across the components involved in a circuit's loop must be zero if we count voltages
across supply components as positive and across 'electricity using' components as negative.

Figure 4: The overall voltage gain (or loss) around the loop shown is zero.

Figure 4 gives an example of this. Let us start at the − terminal of the battery, and label the potential (or voltage) of this point 0 V. We go
around the circuit in the direction of the arrow, which is the direction in which we think current will flow. On passing the battery, the
potential increases by 6 V to 6 V. We then lose 4 V on passing the 2 Ω resistor to give a new potential of 2 V. Finally, the potential drops
by 2 V in the 1 Ω resistor back to zero again.

Kirchhoff's voltage law can be summarised in this situation as

6V − 4V − 2V = 0
6 V − (2 A × 2 Ω) − (2 A × 1 Ω) = 0
​ ​

Kirchhoff's voltage law can be generalised to any loop containing any number of components. A more formal way of writing it is:

n
∑ Vk = 0
​ ​

k=1

When a circuit contains junctions, you need to be careful to choose just one loop each time you apply this law. In effect, this means to
choose only one option at each junction.

Quick Q1 Quick Q2

For the circuit diagram in Figure 5, use Kirchhoff's voltage law to find VA and VB . Start by working out VA using the loop which
​ ​ ​

makes up the left hand side of the circuit.

+ + +

- - -

- + - +

Figure 5: Circuit diagram showing a cell and an arrangement of resistors and the potential differences across
them. Note the directions of the polarities across the components. This is obtained from the choice about the
directions of current flows.

In Figure 6 V = 12 V, the voltage over R1 is 6 V and R2 = 2R3 .

Figure 6: An example circuit.

What is the voltage across R3 ?

Resistors in series

Assuming that the combination can be simplified such that it can be considered as a single resistor of resistance Req , as in Figure 7,
​

then using the voltage law we have:

E − IReq = 0 ​

where we have used Ohm's Law, V = IR, for the resistor.

Figure 7: Circuit diagram showing the cell connected to a single resistor of resistance equivalent to that of a series
combination.

Figure 8: There are n resistors with resistances R1 to Rn respectively. ​ ​

In a series combination, as shown in Figure 8, there are no nodes, so the current law is not necessary, but we can be confident that the
current is the same at all points in the circuit, as charge is conserved.

Using the voltage law (i.e. conservation of energy), we obtain the following equation:

E − IR1 − IR2 − IR3 − ... − IRn = 0

E − I(R1 + R2 + R3 + ... + Rn ) = 0
​ ​ ​ ​

Comparing this to the first equation, we can see that:

Req = R1 + R2 + R3 + ... + Rn
​ ​ ​ ​

Resistors in parallel
Again, assuming that the combination in Figure 9 can be simplified such that it can be considered as a single resistor of resistance Req , ​

then using the voltage law we find that:

E − IReq = 0 ​

Figure 9: Circuit diagram showing a cell connected to a parallel combination of n resistors.

Counting each branch as part of a different loop, containing just the resistor and the cell, we can use the voltage law on each of these
loops, giving the following equations:

E − I 1 R1 = 0
​ ​

E − I 2 R2 = 0
​ ​

E − I 3 R3 = 0
​ ​

E − I n Rn = 0
​ ​

Using the current law on the junction just above the resistors or the junction underneath we obtain:

I1 + I2 + I3 + ... + In = I
​ ​ ​ ​

E
Replacing each current I1 with its equivalent I1 =
​ ​
from the voltage law we find that:
​

R1 ​

E E E E E
= ​ + + + ... + ​ ​ ​ ​

Req​ R1 R2 R3 ​ Rn ​ ​ ​

1 1 1 1 1
= ​ + + + ... + ​ ​ ​ ​

Req​
R1 R2 R3 ​
Rn ​ ​ ​

A Level Worked solution

The video below demonstrates a worked solution of a problem involving a combination of resistors. It is based on a question in the book
How To Solve Physics Problems.

Embedded YouTube video: https://youtu.be/jhfkq2cDRnQ.

In circuits with several cells connected by wires and resistors, or even with other components, it is necessary to use a clear set of
instructions in order to avoid mistakes with the ± signs on the currents and voltages.

1. For each loop of the circuit, mark on your current flows and label them i1 , i2 , …. It does not matter which direction this is in, but use
​ ​

arrows on the wires to indicate your choice. In loops with shared wires, the same current flows through the shared wire.
2. In your loop, mark on the directions of the polarities across the components (shown by arrows in our example) that correspond to
the direction of the current flow through each of them. Remember that in the cell, (coventional) current flows − to + and in a resistor
it flows + to −. If you have other components (a capacitor for example) remember that it is not a cell and that the current is driven
through it from + to −, just as it is in a resistor. Similarly for an inductor.
3. Now go around the loop in a clockwise or anticlockwise direction; it does not matter, but you need to add up the polarities correctly in
the direction you are traversing. The voltages will add up to zero, by Kirchhoff's Law.
Using the results from other loops, and relating the currents through Kirchhoff's first law, you can eliminate the unknown quantities.
In Fig. 10 we have the result V + (−VR ) + (−VC ) = 0
​ ​
or, in short, V − VR − VC = 0 .
​ ​

If we traversed the loop in the reverse direction, we might write the equivalent −V + VR + VC = 0. ​ ​

VR
I
+ -
+
+
V VC
-
-

Figure 10: RC circuit with a source of emf in which a capacitor is being charged.

With a charged capacitor and a resistor in the circuit only, it could be thought of as the capacitor acting as a cell. It is not; you should
choose a current flow direction (either way) and mark on your polarities corresponding to that flow of current around the circuit (with no
source of emf). You will then obtain 0 = VR + VC , with V = 0.
​ ​

VR
I
+ -

+
VC
-

Figure 11: RC circuit with no source of emf. The current direction has been decided and the polarities of the
components follows.

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