Experiment 110: Kirchhoff’s Law

Analysis

In our discussion of the previous experiment, recall that we have

discussed about the basics of electronics with the general ideas of current,

resistance, and electromotive forces (voltage/potential difference).

Furthermore, we also discussed about the concepts of Ohm’s law which

states that the potential difference across a circuit is equivalent to the

product of its current density and electric field, or simply, the potential

difference is equal to the product of the current and resistance of the

circuit. Moreover, we were also able to determine the relationship of

voltage, current, and resistance in a series circuit and in a parallel circuit.

The concept of series and parallel circuits in analyzing circuits are only

applicable to simple circuit and combination circuit, a circuit that utilizes

the combination of multiple series and parallel connections. For

combination circuit, one can simplify the given circuit such that it would

yield into a simple circuit in the form of either a series connection or

parallel connection. However, in actuality, circuits tend to be complex in a

way that it would consists of multiple power sources and components.

Complex circuits cannot be simplified like a combination circuit and it

cannot be treated like a simple circuit because the relationship of series and

parallel connections is not applicable in solving for unknown values or

analyzing complex circuits.

As we go on to study these complex circuits, we will run into

methods like Kirchhoff’s Laws, Mesh Current Analysis, Nodal Voltage

Analysis, Thevenin’s Law, and Norton’s Theorem which are used in order

to understand better how complex circuits work. The mesh current analysis

and nodal voltage analysis utilizes the concepts enveloped in the

Kirchhoff’s laws (Kirchhoff’s Current Law and Kirchhoff’s Voltage); while,

the Thevenin’s theorem serves as an alternative method for Kirchhoff’s

laws and the mesh current and nodal voltage analysis. And likewise, the

Norton’s theorem utilizes the concepts presented in Thevenin’s Law.

In this experiment we will be dealing with complex circuits and

solving them using systematic techniques such as Kirchhoff’s Law.

Anyhow, before we delve into the discussion of Kirchhoff’s Law and how

it helps in computing problems from complex circuit systematically, we

must first understand the theory and concepts behind such technique in

order to fully grasp its use in real life applications and circumstances.
 To begin, Kirchhoff’s circuit laws allow us to solve complex circuit

problems by defining a set of basic network laws and theorems for the

voltages and currents around a circuit. If we will remember from the

previous experiment, a single equivalent resistance RT can be found when

two or more resistors are connected together in either series, parallel, or

combination of both, and that these circuits obey Ohm’s law. However,

sometimes in complex circuits such as bridge or T networks, we cannot

simply use Ohm’s law alone to find the voltages or currents circulating

within the circuit. For these types of calculations, we need certain rules

which allow us to obtain the circuit equations and for this we can use

Kirchhoff’s circuit laws.

Here is a short introduction about how

Kirchhoff’s Law came to be. In Physics, a

prominent German physicist named Gustav

Robert Kirchhoff (illustrated on figure 1) was

known for his contributions in the techniques

of systematic solution of problems in terms of

electricity. He was a German physicist who

Figure 1. Gustav Robert Kirchhoff
contributed to the fundamental
understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy, and the emission of

black-body radiation by heated objects. He coined the term black-body

radiation in 1862, and at least two different sets of concepts are named

"Kirchhoff's laws" after Gustav Kirchhoff developed a pair or set of laws

which deal with the conservation of current and energy within electrical

circuits. These two rules are commonly known as: Kirchhoff’s Circuit Laws

with one of the laws dealing with the current flowing around a closed

circuit, Kirchhoff’s Current Law (KCL), while the other law deals with the

voltage sources present in a closed circuit, Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law (KVL).

To give a little background about Kirchhoff’s laws, Gustav Kirchhoff was

born in Konigsberg, the former capital of Prussia. It was while he was

studying with Neumann who by the year 1845 had published his two

major papers on electrical conduction that Kirchhoff made his first

outstanding research contribution which related to electrical currents. The

said research is the Kirchhoff’s laws, which he announced in 1845, allowed

calculation of currents, voltages, and resistances in electrical circuits with

multiple loops, extending the work of Ohm. Kirchhoff considered an

electrical network consisting of circuits joined at nodes of the network and

gave laws which reduce the calculation of the currents in each loop to the
solution of algebraic equations. Kirchhoff formulated his circuit laws,

which are now ubiquitous in electrical engineering, in 1845, while still a

student. He completed this study as a seminar exercise; it later became his

doctoral dissertation. In 1857 he calculated that an electric signal in a

resistance less wire travels along the wire at the speed of light. The first law

states that the sum of currents into a given node equals the sum of currents

out of that node. The second law states that the sum of electromotive forces

in a loop in the network equals the sum of potential drops, or voltages

across each of the resistances, in the loop.

Figure 2. Example of an

Application of Kirchhoff’s Current Law

Kirchhoff’s Current Law (KCL) states that the “total current or charge

entering a junction or node is exactly equal to the charge leaving the node
as it has no other place to go except to leave, as no charge is lost within the

node”.

In other

words, the algebraic sum of all the currents entering and leaving a node

must be equal to zero, as shown in Equation 1. This idea is commonly

referred to as the Conservation of Charge. In the example shown in Figure

2, the three currents entering the node, I1, I2, I3, are all positive in value

and the two currents leaving the node, I4 and I5, are negative in value.

Thus, based on KCL, the summation of all currents entering and leaving

the node is equal to zero, as shown in Equation 2.

Figure 3. Sign Conventions for Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law

 The second law is the Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law (KVL); wherein, the

summation of all voltages/potential around a given closed pat or loop is

equivalent to zero. In other words, the summation of all voltage/potential

rise is equivalent to the summation of all voltage/potential drop, as shown

in Equation 3. Recall that an open path is a set of node and elements passed

through if no node was encountered more than once while a closed path or

loop is a kind of path wherein the node where you started is also the node

where you will end. The direction of path could either be clockwise or

counterclockwise. The sign convention for each voltage depends on where

the path or loop entered or left. The direction used must be consistent

through all

the loops. KVL is also recognized as the application of the Law of

Conservation of Energy. Figure 3 shows the possible sign conventions used

for KVL.

Mesh Current Analysis is a technique used to find the currents

circulating around a loop or mesh within any closed path of a circuit. While

Kirchhoff´s Laws give us the basic method for analyzing any complex

electrical circuit, there are different ways of improving upon this method
by using Mesh Current Analysis or Nodal Voltage Analysis that results in

a lessening of the math’s involved and when large networks are involved

this reduction in mathematics can be a big advantage.

Figure 4. An Example of a Loop for Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law

An easier method of solving the above circuit is by using Mesh

Current Analysis or Loop Analysis which is also sometimes called Maxwell

´s Circulating Currents method as shown in figure 4. Instead of labelling

the branch currents we need to label each “closed loop” with a circulating

current. As a general rule of thumb, only label inside loops in a clockwise

direction with circulating currents as the aim is to cover all the elements of

the circuit at least once. Any required branch current may be found from

the appropriate loop or mesh currents as before using Kirchhoff´s method.

We now write Kirchhoff’s voltage law equation in the same way as before

to solve them, but the advantage of this method is that it ensures that the
information obtained from the circuit equations is the minimum required

to solve the circuit as the information is more general and can easily be put

into a matrix form. These equations can be solved quite quickly by using a

single mesh impedance matrix Z. Each element ON the principal diagonal

will be “positive” and is the total impedance of each mesh. Whereas, each

element OFF the principal diagonal will either be “zero” or “negative” and

represents the circuit element connecting all the appropriate meshes.

As well as using Mesh Current Analysis, we can also use node

analysis to calculate the voltages around the loops, again reducing the

amount of mathematics required using just Kirchhoff’s laws. Nodal

Voltage Analysis finds the unknown voltage drops around a circuit

between different nodes that provide a common connection for two or

more circuit components Nodal Voltage Analysis complements the

previous mesh analysis in that it is equally powerful and based on the

same concepts of matrix analysis. As its name implies, Nodal Voltage

Analysis uses the “Nodal” equations of Kirchhoff’s first law to find the

voltage potentials around the circuit. So, by adding together all these nodal

voltages the net result will be equal to zero. Then, if there are “n” nodes in

the circuit there will be “n-1” independent nodal equations and these alone
are enough to describe and hence solve the circuit. At each node point

write down Kirchhoff’s first law equation, that is: “the currents entering a

node are exactly equal in value to the currents leaving the node” then

express each current in terms of the voltage across the branch. For “n”

nodes, one node will be used as the reference node and all the other

voltages will be referenced or measured with respect to this common node.

Thevenin theorem is an analytical method used to change a complex

circuit into a simple equivalent circuit consisting of a single resistance in

series with a source voltage. In the previous paragraphs, we have looked at

the three ways of analyzing and solving complex circuits using KCL, KVL,

Mesh Analysis, and Nodal Analysis. There are many more theorems and

laws used in solving complex circuit, and now, we will be looking into a

simpler way of solving complex circuits through Thevenin’s theorem and

Norton’s Theorem. Thevenin’s theorem states that “Any linear circuit

containing several voltages and resistances can be replaced by just one

single voltage in series with a single resistance connected across the load “.

In other words, it is possible to simplify any electrical circuit, no matter

how complex, to an equivalent two-terminal circuit with just a single

constant voltage source in series with a resistance (or impedance)

connected to a load. It is especially useful in the circuit analysis of power or

battery systems and other interconnected resistive circuits where it will

have an effect on the adjoining part of the circuit.

Thevenin’s theorem can be used as another type of circuit analysis

method and is particularly useful in the analysis of complicated circuits

consisting of one or more voltage or current source and resistors that are

arranged in the usual parallel and series connections. While Thevenin’s

circuit theorem can be described mathematically in terms of current and

voltage, it is not as powerful as Mesh Current Analysis or Nodal Voltage

Analysis in larger networks because the use of Mesh or Nodal analysis is

usually necessary in any Thevenin exercise, so it might as well be used

from the start. However, Thevenin’s equivalent circuits of Transistors,

Voltage Sources such as batteries etc., are very useful in circuit design.

On the other hand, Norton theorem reduces his circuit down to a

single resistance in parallel with a constant current source. Norton’s

theorem is an analytical method used to change a complex circuit into a

simple equivalent circuit consisting of a single resistance in parallel with a

current source. It states that “Any linear circuit containing several energy

sources and resistances can be replaced by a single Constant Current

generator in parallel with a Single Resistor”. The value of this “constant

current” is one which would flow if the two output terminals where

shorted together while the source resistance would be measured looking

back into the terminals.

With the theories, concepts, and ideas about analyzing complex

circuits now discussed, let us now give focus on Kirchhoff’s law by

verifying its theory through this experiment. In this experiment, we were

tasked to fulfill the given objectives: (1.) To determine the current flowing

through resistors in a Direct Current (DC) circuit using Kirchhoff’s law

(KCL) and compare the values obtained with the computed values, and (2.)

To determine the voltage across in a DC circuit using Kirchhoff’s law

(KVL) and compare the values obtained with the computed values.

Figure 5. Diagram of network to use Kirchhoff’s Law

Figure 6. Materials Used in the Experiment

Resistor Box

Digital Multi-
meter

Ammeter
Battery

Connecting
Wires

The materials used for this experiment in order to satisfy the set-up

in figure 5 is similar to the materials used in the previous experiments;

resistor box (3), voltmeter (1), ammeter (1), connecting wires (10), Volt-

Ohm (VOM) Meter/Digital Multimeter (2), and battery (4). Materials are

illustrated in Figure 6.
 Figure 7. Schematic Diagram for the Experiment

In setting-up the materials for the experiment proper, we followed

the schematic diagram shown in Figure 7 The values of the three resistors

were given by the handbook, where, R 1 is 5 Ω, R2 is 10 Ω, and R3 is 5 Ω, For

the first step in setting-up, connect the three resistor boxes, refer to Figure

5. Power supply V1 consists of three batteries in series, and power supply

V2 is a single battery. When the circuit is already turned on, we measured

the voltage across power suppl V1 using the digital multimeter and

recorded in Table 1. Likewise, we measured power supply V2 and

recorded the measured voltage in Table 1. To measure the I 1, we disconnect

wire 1 and replaced it with the ammeter and recorded the current flowing

through it in the experimental column of Table 1. Also, we did the same for

I2 and I3 with wire 2 and wire 3 being replaced by the ammeter,

respectively. And, we recorded the obtained values on the experiment

 column of Table 1. For the computed values, we used the concept of

Kirchhoff’s Current Law (or Junction Law) and Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law (or

Loop Law) in obtaining the equations need to set-up a system of linear

equations. Using the Junction Law, we were able to set-up one equation

describing flow of current on Node B, Equation 4. Meanwhile, Equations 5

and 6 described the voltage rise and drop on the loops 1 and 2,

respectively, of the circuit shown in Figure 5. Given three equations and

three unknowns, the system of equation can be solved using matrices by

setting-up a matrix like in Equation 7 and reducing it to a Reduced Row-

Echelon Form (RREF) in order to obtain the computed values of I 1, I2, and

I3.

TABLE 1. KIRCHHOFF’S LAWS

Experimental Computed Percentage Difference

 I1 0.148 A 0.1514 A 2.2 %
I2 0.130 A 0.1270 A 2.4 %
I3 0.023 A 0.0244 A 5.74 %

Power Supply 1 Voltage (V1) 2.038 V

Power Supply 2 Voltage (V2) 1.148 V

Resistance 1 (R1) 5.0000 Ω

Resistance 2 (R2) 10.0000 Ω

Resistance 3 (R3) 5.0000 Ω

Table 1 shows the complete data obtained from the experiment

proper. With R1 = 5Ω, R2 = 10Ω, R3 = 5 Ω, we determined that power supply V1 =

2.038V and power supply V2 = 1.148V. From the data, the experimental values

for I1 showed a precise measurement when compared to the computed

values with a percentage difference of 2.2% based on the value of

experimental which is equal to 0.148A and Computed which is equal to

0.1514A. The experimental values for I2 showed a precise measurement

when compared to the computed values with a percentage difference of

2.4% based on the value of experimental which is equal to 0.130A and

Computed which is equal to 0.1270A. The experimental values for I 3

showed a precise measurement when compared to the computed values

with a percentage difference of 5.74% based on the value of experimental

which is equal to 0.023A and Computed which is equal to 0.0244A. This

result shows that the theory presented in the experiment is true and

reliable. In addition, it has been verified that the relationships deviated

from Kirchhoff’s Current and Voltage laws are true and applicable in real

life.
Conclusion

In real life, there are many resistor circuits that cannot be reduced to

simple series-parallel combinations and such combinations are called

complex circuits. In computing for these complex circuits, some techniques

can be used to solve each problem systematically and one such technique is

called Kirchhoff’s Laws, Current Law (KCL) and Voltage Law (KVL),

which states that the sum of all currents entering and leaving a node is

equal to zero; on the other hand, the Voltage Law states that the sum of all

voltage rise, and voltage drop is equal to zero.

Based on the experiment, we were able to verify the theory presented

by Kirchhoff’s laws. First, all the currents obtained by performing the

experiment were all precise when compare to the computed values that

was obtained with the use of KCL and KVL. Furthermore, with the use of

Equation 4 derived using KCL, we were able to verify that the current

entering Node B, I1, is equal to the sum of the currents leaving Node B, I 2

and I3. Also, using the Equations 5 and 6 that were both derived using

KVL, we verified the theory of the loop law in which we yield the

summation of all voltage rise and voltage drop is equal to zero.

 We can therefore conclude that in this experiment, one of the key

methods in analyzing complex circuits are the use Kirchhoff’s laws. After

all, in real-life, all circuits are likely to be complex especially when it comes

to circuit system used in buildings. This concept that we have learned in

the experiment will be helpful in analyzing electrical and circuit plans

presented to us, Civil Engineers.