What
are Kirchoff's Laws ?
In the previous units,
we considered circuits with a single resistor
and did an analysis using Ohm’s law.
At this point we begin to expand our capabilities
to handle more complicated circuits, which
result from an interconnection of two or
more of these simple elements. In
1847, Gustav Robert Kirchhoff extended the
use of Ohm’s law by developing a simple
concept called Kirchhoff’s laws.
Kirchhoff’s
Current Law (KCL)
At any node in a circuit,
the current arriving is equal to the current
leaving. For the circuit shown in Figure
8.1, we obtain the following equations:
Figure 8.1 Circuits
with one nodes to illustrate Kirchhoff’s
Current Law.
An important principle
of electrical circuits is Kirchhoff’s
Current Law (KCL), which states that the
net current entering a node is zero.
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